Front Matter

Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-85069-8 - Perfection and Disharmony in the Thought of Jean-Jacques Rousseau Jonathan Marks Frontmatter More information

Perfection and Disharmony in the Thought of Jean-Jacques Rousseau

In Perfection and Disharmony in the Thought of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Jonathan Marks offers a new interpretation of the philosopher’s thought and its place in the contemporary debate between liberals and communitarians. Against prevailing views, Marks argues that Rousseau’s thought revolves around the natural perfection of a naturally disharmonious being. At the foundation of Rousseau’s thought Marks ﬁnds a natural teleology that takes account of and seeks to harmonize conﬂicting ends. The Rousseau who emerges from this interpretation is a radical critic of liberalism who is nonetheless more cautious about protecting individual freedom than his milder communitarian successors. Marks elaborates on the challenge that Rousseau poses to liberals and communitarians alike by setting up a dialogue between him and Charles Taylor, one of the most distin- guished ethical and political theorists at work today.

Jonathan Marks is assistant professor of political science and philosophy at Carthage College. He has contributed to Polity, the American Journal of Political Science, and Responsive Community.

© Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-85069-8 - Perfection and Disharmony in the Thought of Jean-Jacques Rousseau Jonathan Marks Frontmatter More information

To My Parents, Rebecca and Joseph Marks

Perfection and Disharmony in the Thought of Jean-Jacques Rousseau

JONATHAN MARKS Carthage College

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C Jonathan Marks 2005

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First published 2005

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A catalog record for this publication is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Marks, Jonathan, 1969– Perfection and disharmony in the thought of Jean-Jacques Rousseau / Jonathan Marks. p. cm. isbn 0-521-85069-x (hardcover) 1. Rousseau, Jean-Jacques, 1712–1778. 2. Philosophical anthropology. 3. Perfection. I. Title. b2138.m3m37 2005 194–dc22 2004026

isbn-13 978-0-521-85069-8 hardback isbn-10 0-521-85069-x hardback

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Contents

Acknowledgments page vii

Introduction: The Natural Perfection of a Naturally Disharmonious Being 1 1 Natural Perfection 15 2 The Savage Pattern 54 3 Rousseau’s Rhetorical Strategy 89 4 Rousseau and Charles Taylor 118 Conclusion: Rousseau’s Challenge to Classical Liberals 149

Notes 159 References 181 Index 189

Acknowledgments

Among my teachers, I am most indebted to the late Allan Bloom for bringing me into the company of books and friends who have pleased and instructed me since. Along with Joseph Cropsey, Ralph Lerner, and Nathan Tarcov, he inspired my interest in political philosophy. Along with Clifford Orwin, he inspired my interest in Rousseau. It is a pleasure to thank Nathan Tarcov for guiding the graduate study out of which this book eventually emerged. He has been generous with his time and extraordinarily kind. Robert Pippin served on my dissertation committee and made many helpful comments. From the beginning of this project, I had the great good fortune to get help from one of Rousseau’s most insightful and rigorous interpreters. I am grateful to Arthur Melzer for his detailed comments on and encour- agement of my work. My book was inspired by his unsurpassed interpretation of Rousseau, The Natural Goodness of Man: On the System of Rousseau’s Thought. Since my book is about Rousseau, it is no surprise that one of my anonymous reviewers revealed himself and the other confessed. I thank both reviewers for their thoughtful comments, which I have done my best to address. It was a particular pleasure to learn the identity of one of the reviewers, whose work I have long admired. I would also like to thank those who have been good enough to comment on different stages and parts of the manuscript, including Ruth Abbey, Aditya Adarkar, Laurence Cooper, Werner Dannhauser, Wendy Gunther-Canada, Leon Kass, Ronald Lee, Dan Magurshak, Roger Masters, Clifford Orwin, Joseph Reisert, Jeffrey Smith, Paul Ulrich, David Williams, Richard Zinman, and Rachel Zuckert. I am especially grateful to

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viii Acknowledgments

two of my friends. Steven Kautz applied his formidable skills as an editor and strategist to the many problems I consulted him about. Christopher Lynch showed great patience and mocked me only a little in discussions that helped clarify the ideas in this book. Thanks to the editors at Cambridge University Press for taking on and taking good care of this book. My copy editor, Elise M. Oranges, saved me from numerous embarrassments. Thanks, also, to the Bradley, Earhart, and Olin foundations, and the Symposum on Science, Reason, and Modern Democracy at Michigan State University for supporting my research. A version of Chapter 1 appeared in “Who Lost Nature? Rousseau and Rousseauism,” Polity 34:4 (Summer 2002). A version of Chapter 2 appeared in “The Savage Pattern: The Unity of Rousseau’s Thought Re- visited,” Polity 31:1 (Fall 1998). I thank the publishers of Polity for permission to use material from those articles. Parts of Chapter 4 appeared in “Misreading One’s Sources: Charles Taylor’s Rousseau,” American Journal of Political Science 49:1 (January 2005). I thank the publishers of AJPS for permission to use material from that article. My parents, among many other things, took great care and made sac- riﬁces to make sure of my education. This book is dedicated to them. Because my marriage and dissertation proposals were accepted around the same time, this book has been written under the most fortunate circumstances. I am thankful to my beautiful wife, Anna Marks, whose critical judgment improved this book and whose wit and support made writing it less of a burden. My son, Samuel, was born when much of the book had already been written, but the thought of him as an adult and potential reader made me try to do better.