Rousseau's Theory of Human Association Transparent and Opaque Communities

by Hill, Greg

• ISBN13: 9781403972590
• ISBN10: 1403972591
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-05-14
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

This book examines Rousseau's ideas about the natural transparency of human intention, the loss of this transparency in the opaque cities of Europe, and the possibility of its restoration within small republican communities. The author weaves together Rousseau's provocative conjectures about transparency and opaqueness to provide an original interpretation of Rousseau's political thought and its bearing on several contemporary controversies. He also argues that civic cooperation in Rousseau's model republic requires mutual surveillance; that Hobbes's argument for a sovereign state assumes the natural opacity of human intention; and that Adam Smith's "invisible hand" cannot efficiently coordinate the self-interested choices of opaque traders.

Author Biography

Greg Hill is a Strategic Advisor in the City of Seattle’s Department of Finance. He was Lecturer and Adjunct Professor at the University of Washington, and served as Special Assistant to the Mayor of Seattle. He has published articles in philosophy, political theory, and economics, including contributions to Polity, The Review of Politics, Rationality & Society, Political Research Quarterly, The Journal of Social Philosophy, The Southern Journal of Philosophy, Critical Review, Cambridge Journal of Economics, Economic Issues, Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, and Economics of Planning.

Table of Contents

List of Tables	viii
List of Figures	ix
Previously Published Work	x
Acknowledgments	xii
Preface	xiii
Introduction	1	(10)
Transparency and Opacity in Nature, Society, and State	11	(34)
Association and Civil Society in Transparent and Opaque Communities	45	(44)
Opaque Traders and the Invisible Hand	89	(38)
The Ring of Gyges, the Perfect Shield, and the Veil of Ignorance	127	(27)
Conclusion	154	(7)
Notes	161	(27)
Bibliography	188	(9)
Index	197