Rousseau and German Idealism. Freedom, Dependence and Necessity

The claim that Rousseau´s writings influenced the development of Kant´s critical philosophy, and German idealism, is not a new one. As correct as the claim may be, it does not amount to a systematic account of Rousseau´s place within this philosophical tradition. It also suggests a progression whereby Rousseau´s achievements are eventually eclipsed by those of Kant, Fichte and Hegel, especially with respect to the idea of freedom. In this book David James shows that Rousseau presents certain challenges that Kant and the idealists Fichte and Hegel could not fully meet, by making dependence and necessity, as well as freedom, his central concerns, and thereby raises the question of whether freedom in all its forms is genuinely possible in a condition of human interdependence marked by material inequality. His study will be valuable for all those studying Kant, German idealism and the history of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century ideas. The first available systematic account in English that relates Rousseau´s writing to aspects of Kant´s, Fichte´s and Hegel´s writings Highlights the significance of the concept of necessity for social and political philosophy Challenges the assumption that Rousseau´s theory of freedom in particular was merely the stepping stone to the accounts of freedom provided by Kant or the German idealists