On his famous walk to Vincennes to visit the imprisoned Diderot,
Rousseau had what he called an “illumination”—the realization
that man was naturally good but becomes corrupted by the influence of
society—a fundamental change in Rousseau’s perspective that would
animate all of his subsequent works. At that moment, Rousseau
“saw” something he had hitherto not seen, and he made it his
mission to help his readers share that vision through an array of
rhetorical and literary techniques. In Rousseau’s Reader, John T.
Scott looks at the different strategies Rousseau used to engage and
persuade the readers of his major philosophical works, including the
Social Contract, Discourse on Inequality, and Emile. Considering
choice of genre; textual structure; frontispieces and illustrations;
shifting authorial and narrative voice; addresses to readers that
alternately invite and challenge; apostrophe, metaphor, and other
literary devices; and, of course, paradox, Scott explores how the form
of Rousseau’s writing relates to the content of his thought and vice
versa. Through this skillful interplay of form and content, Rousseau
engages in a profoundly transformative dialogue with his readers.
While most political philosophers have focused, understandably, on
Rousseau’s ideas, Scott shows convincingly that the way he conveyed
them is also of vital importance, especially given Rousseau’s
enduring interest in education. Giving readers the key to Rousseau’s
style, Scott offers fresh and original insights into the relationship
between the substance of his thought and his literary and rhetorical
techniques, which enhance our understanding of Rousseau’s project
and the audiences he intended to reach.
Les mer
Strategies of Persuasion and Education
Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9780226689289
Publisert
2020
Utgiver
University of Chicago Press
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter