This 2010 volume examines Rousseau's many approaches to the concept of freedom, in the context of his thought on literature, religion, music, theater, women, the body and the arts. By taking freedom as the guiding principle of their analysis, the essays in this book form a cohesive account of Rousseau's writings.

Preface; Part I: 1. Freeing man from sin: Rousseau on the natural condition of mankind Ioannis D. Evrigenis; 2. Making history natural in Rousseau's Discourse on the Origins of Inequality Natasha Lee; 3. Rousseau's Second Discourse, between Epicureanism and Stoicism Christopher Brooke; 4. Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Diderot in the late 1740s: satire, friendship, and freedom Marian Hobson; 5. If you please! Theater, verisimilitude, and freedom in the Letter to d'Alembert Jerome Brillaud; 6. Music, the passions, and political freedom in Rousseau Tracy B. Strong; Part II: 7. The Social Contract, or The Mirage of the General Will Stanley Hoffmann; 8. 'Par le bon usage de ma liberte': freedom and Rousseau's reconstituted Christianity Jason Neidleman; 9. The constraints of liberty at the scene of instruction Diane Berrett Brown; 10. 'Toutes mes idees sont en images': Rousseau and the yoke of necessity Marius Hentea; 11. Rousseau's ruins Louisa Shea; 12. Can woman be free? Philip Stewart; 13. The subject and its body: love of oneself and freedom in the thought of Rousseau Mathieu Brunet and Bertrand Guillarme; Part III: 14. Paranoia and freedom in Rousseau's final decade Leo Damrosch; 15. Freedom and the project of idleness Pierre Saint-Amand; 16. On the uses of negative freedom Marie-Helene Huet; 17. Fail better: Rousseau's creative delire Christie McDonald; Postface Stanley Hoffmann; Bibliography; Index.