title: Rousseau and German Idealism
author:  David James 
description: This book provides a systematic account of Rousseau's significance in relation to Kant's, Fichte's and Hegel's views on freedom, dependence and necessity. It offers valuable insight to all those studying eighteenth-century philosophy, German idealism and the history of ideas.
zlib_text: more information  - www.cambridge.org/9781107037854
  
  ROUSSEAU AND GERMAN IDEALISM
  The claim that Rousseau’s writings inﬂuenced the development of
  Kant’s Critical philosophy, and German Idealism, is not a new one.
  As correct as the claim may be, it does not amount to a systematic
  account of Rousseau’s place within this philosophical tradition. It also
  suggests a progression whereby Rousseau’s achievements are eventually
  eclipsed by those of Kant, Fichte and Hegel, especially with respect to
  the idea of freedom. In this book David James shows that Rousseau
  presents certain challenges that Kant and the idealists Fichte and Hegel
  could not fully meet, by making dependence and necessity, as well as
  freedom, his central concerns in such a way as to raise the question of
  whether freedom in all its forms is genuinely possible in a condition
  of human interdependence marked by material inequality. His study
  will be valuable for all those studying Kant, German Idealism, and
  the history of eightee