Rousseau, Nature, and the Problem of the Good Life

Rousseau, Nature, and the Problem of the Good Life, Volume 1, examines the tension between modern science and Western moral philosophy. As Christian theology and Aristotelian teleology lost their influence, the search for an objective standard for the good life became a central crisis. This work of ethics and moral philosophy analyzes how Jean-Jacques Rousseau attempted to maintain nature as a valid guide for human behavior despite the scientific shifts of his era.

Laurence D Cooper explores the transition from the original goodness of the state of nature to the concept of the natural man living within society. This study in modern philosophy and history focuses on the role of conscience and the love of order. By sublimating savage sentiment into a civilized naturalness, Rousseau provides a framework for human aspiration and moral conduct.