Scholars today generally agree that Jean-Jacques Rousseau was one of the greatest and most influential thinkers of the eighteenth century. What is less clear is how we ought to understand Rousseau’s thought and legacy. Some regard Rousseau as the quintessential philosopher of the Enlightenment: a champion of rationalism who paved the way for the French Revolution. Others read Rousseau as one of the Enlightenment’s greatest critics: a sentimentalist who sought to rescue us from the corruptions of society and bring us back to nature.

Democracy and Enlightenment: The Challenge of Rousseau aims to reopen this conversation over the challenges Rousseau’s thought continue to pose today. Featuring three panels and a plenary address, the conference will bring ten noted experts from multiple fields – from political science to philosophy to French literature – to the Boston College campus to address Rousseau’s contributions to our understandings of such themes as democracy, democratic engagement, and the Enlightenment.

Democracy and Rousseau also affords an opportunity to celebrate the many scholarly contributions of Professor Christopher Kelly of the Political Science Department here at Boston College. A leading Rousseau specialist, Kelly is the author of two major monographs on Rousseau – Rousseau’s Exemplary Life and Rousseau as Author – and the coeditor of The Collected Writings of Rousseau.