Pascal’s Pensées and Rousseau's The Social Contract
Details
At this meeting we will be discussing a selection from the Pensées of Pascal, and anyone who wants to choose one or two for the discussion is free to do so.
At some point we'll continue discussing On the Social Contract, which is the culmination of Rousseau's work in the realm of political philosophy. We'll begin again with Book 1 and read through Chapter 5 to Chapter 9, and we'll concentrate our discussion on idea of the general will.
“Man was born free, but everywhere he is in chains. This man believes that he is the master of others, and still he is more of a slave than they are. How did that transformation take place? I don't know. How may the restraints on man become legitimate? I do believe I can answer that question…”
Rousseau wrote on a wide variety of subjects, but the group will first delve into his political theory. And, while the group will concentrate on Rousseau, we may also take a look at other writers of the French Enlightenment; i.e. Montesquieu, Diderot, and, although he was a bit earlier, Montaigne.
This is the translation of the Rousseau we will be using in the meetings: (link)
This is the edition of the Pascal we'll use in the meeting: https://annas-archive.org/md5/6b90c27929bed023388922728b88bf35