End of the Year Wrap up with Rousseau

[grllopez]

The new year is upon us, concluding two whole years of reading through the histories of The Well-Educated Mind. I admit, I have struggled through several of these and did not finish two of them. I barely got through The Social Contract, by Rousseau.

It was a short read, but the topic was heavy enough, concerning the common problems with the masses and effective government . He seemed to be thinking out his ideas as he wrote them, and maybe at times he didn't think thoroughly enough; some of his ideas were contradictory. Or he had an immature understanding of human nature.

Whatever the case, he did not trust government. That's something I have to agree with.

Here is my review:
https://greatbookstudy.blogspot.com/2...

[Sharon]

Unfortunately, I didn’t get very far with Rousseau. Oddly enough, I thought the introduction was very good. But the text itself, not so much.

[grllopez]

Sharon...I bet I didn't read the intro. I usually don't, only because Bauer suggests not reading any intro by anyone other than the author, until after we have read the book. This way we go into the work w/o knowing much about it. But I have a feeling it would help give some clarification afterward.

[Sharon]

Great Book Study wrote: "Sharon...I bet I didn't read the intro. I usually don't, only because Bauer suggests not reading any intro by anyone other than the author, until after we have read the book. This way we go into th..."

I’m aware of that and normally don’t read them, either. 😊 But when it’s a topic or author I don’t know anything at all about, I find it can be beneficial. In this case, it was mostly biographical information on Rousseau, which was interesting.

[grllopez]

If your intro was biographical, then that's really helpful b/c it tells the reader a lot about why the author thinks the way he does. I found his autobiography, Confessions, extremely odd. He was a strange individual, and he lived a very uncommon life. Nonetheless, I still want to read his ideas on education...I think in Camile, or something like that. The man, who gave his five biological children to the state to raise b/c he believed he was unfit (obviously), also had a lot to say about the education of children.

[Sharon]

Great Book Study wrote: "If your intro was biographical, then that's really helpful b/c it tells the reader a lot about why the author thinks the way he does. I found his autobiography, Confessions, extremely odd. He was a..."

I’m not counting it out completely, either - I believe he had some influence on the Transcendentalists, which I’m very interested in. But at the time I was trying to read it, it just wasn’t working for me.

[Beth]

Done! My review, way overdue:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[grllopez]

Beth wrote: "Done! My review, way overdue:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."

Thanks for sharing...I guess I will have to keep this in mind when reading the Federalist Papers, coming up soon.