A surprising look at how Rousseau defended the philosophic life as the most natural and best of lives.
 
Dreaming of Justice, Waking to Wisdom reveals what could be thought of as the capstone of Rousseau’s thought, even if that capstone has been nearly invisible to readers. Despite criticizing philosophy for its corrosive effects on both natural goodness and civic virtue, Rousseau, argues Laurence D. Cooper, held the philosophic life as an ideal. Cooper expertly unpacks Rousseau’s vivid depiction of the philosophic life and the case for that life as the most natural, the freest, or, in short, the best or most choice-worthy of lives. Cooper focuses especially on a single feature, arguably the defining feature of the philosophic life: the overcoming of the ordinary moral consciousness in favor of the cognitivist view of morality. Cooper shows that Rousseau, with his particular understanding and embrace of the philosophic life, proves to be a kind of latter-day Socratic. Thorough and thought-provoking, Dreaming of Justice, Waking to Wisdom provides vital insight into Rousseau.

Laurence D. Cooper is professor of political science at Carleton College. He is the author of Eros in Plato, Rousseau, and Nietzsche: The Politics of Infinity and Rousseau, Nature, and the Problem of the Good Life.

Citations and Abbreviations
Preface
Introduction: After the Cave


Part I
Chapter 1 The Life of Philosophy and the Life of Rousseau
Chapter 2 The Reveries of the Solitary Walker: An Introduction


Part II
Chapter 3 “What Am I?”: First Walk
Chapter 4 “A Faithful Record”: Second Walk
Chapter 5 Becoming a Philosopher: Third Walk
Chapter 6 Being a Philosopher: Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Walks
Chapter 7 Becoming a More Perfect Philosopher: Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Walks
Coda: The Love of Wisdom and the Wisdom of Love: Tenth Walk
Acknowledgments
Bibliography
Index