Jean-Jacques Rousseau

A comprehensive and yet focused introduction to the work and life of the French 18th-century philosophe who undoubtedly had the strongest impact on posterity (occasionally comparing Rousseau with two other key-figures of French Enlightenment, Voltaire and Denis Diderot). Special attention will be paid to Rousseau's reception history, both as the inventor of new concepts and discourses (e.g. "vertu persécutée") that have shaped our understanding of social life up until the present day, and on a new type of "sensibilité" mainly based on the capacity of compassion (pitié). This seminar, in its concluding sessions, will explore aspects of an aesthetic and political genealogy of our time.