La Verne Professor to Publish Book on Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Jason Neidleman began focusing on philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau after taking a course taught by professor Stanley Hoffmann on French political thought at Harvard University in the 1990s.
That is the subject of his new book The Sublime Science of Simple Souls, set to be published by Routledge in 2016.
Neidleman described Rousseau as a man born out of his time.
“Rousseau was a ‘modern with an ancient soul’ as he said of himself. This gave him a uniquely insightful perspective on the problems that define modernity, and he continues to be among the best companions in working through the struggles that we face today,” he said.
What makes Neidleman’s book unique is that it analyzes Rousseau’s philosophy related to truth and truthseeking. Rousseau, who is considered to be one of the most influential thinkers of Europe’s Enlightenment period, believed that human beings in their natural state have access to the truths that pertain to human happiness and that those truths have become obscured by the corruption that results from civilization.
Neidleman’s book presents Rousseau’s account of what humans should do to discover the truths to reclaim happiness.
A longtime member of the Rousseau Association – a society dedicated to the study of the philosopher – Neidleman got started on this project when he presented a paper on Rousseau’s Reveries of the Solitary Walker at a conference for the association.
Neidleman’s previous book was called The General Will is Citizenship, which evolved from his dissertation on Rousseau’s influence on French political thought in 18th and 19th centuries.
He also has plans for future writings: “I’m thinking about the relationship between public opinion and public policy, in particular the strategies that political elites use to bring public opinion into conformity with public policy,” he said.
