Reading Jean-Jacques Rousseau through the prism of chess / Florian Vauléon.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Vauléon, Florian, 1974- author.

Contributor:

Michigan Publishing (University of Michigan), publisher.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques, 1712-1778--Criticism and interpretation.

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques.

Chess.

Enlightenment--Influence.

Enlightenment.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (156 pages)

Place of Publication:

Ann Arbor, Michigan : University of Michigan Press, 2019.

Summary:

"Over a period of forty years, Rousseau combined his devotion to writing with his enthusiasm for chess, and these two passions necessarily intertwined. Rousseau was able to transfer his power of concentration and the strict dialectics of his literary writings to his chess strategy. If Rousseau's analytical skills influenced his attitude towards the game, then the game of chess inspired his logic and affected his discourse. Interpreted as a form of rationality, as a conceptual paradigm, the rules and strategies of chess accurately describe of Rousseau's ideas for social management, political power, and organization. Reading Jean-Jacques Rousseau through the Prism of Chess shows that Rousseau's political theory, though allegedly inspired by Nature, found a perfect model in a game created by mankind; chess thus became a reference for his philosophical discourse and practice as well as a method to systematize Nature and organize society." -- Publisher.

Contents:

1: Chess in eighteenth-century France

2: Rousseau's infatuation with chess

3: The structure and logic of chess in Rousseau's Dialogues

4: Rousseau and the philosophy of chess

5: The individual in Rousseau's social game of chess

6: The social body in Rousseau's social game of chess

7: The legislator in Rousseau's social game of chess.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 135-143) and index.

Description based on information from the publisher.

ISBN:

9780472126194

0472126199