Episode · EconTalk · 2025-06-16
Books mentioned on Leon Kass on the Wisdom of Rousseau
Does technology liberate us or enslave us? How do our social interactions affect our sense of self and our emotional health?
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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Discourse on the Origin of Inequality
Discussed“So, what we're going to do today, uh, Leon's going to give a brief summary of Rouso's life and career, and we're going to do a close reading of a few paragraphs from his discourse on the origins and foundations of inequality among men, which is also known as the second discourse.”
Where to get it
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Discourse on the Origin and the Foundations of Inequality Among Men
Discussed“So, what we're going to do today, uh, Leon's going to give a brief summary of Rouso's life and career, and we're going to do a close reading of a few paragraphs from his discourse on the origins and foundations of inequality among men, which is also known as the second discourse.”
Where to get it
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The Confessions of Jean Jacques Rousseau
Discussed“A prolific political philosopher known for the social contract. A philosopher of education, famous for his a meal, author of a romantic novel, composer of seven operas, a theater critic, an author of the first modern autobiography, The Confessions, and even a scientist writing an elements of botany.”
Where to get it
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The Theory of Moral Sentiments
The Theory of Moral Sentiments by Adam Smith is a foundational work of moral philosophy and economics that explores the psychological and emotional underpinnings of human behavior, sympathy, and social order.
Discussed“You know, uh, before we recorded this, Leon and I talked a little bit about Adam Smith and, uh, Adam Smith talks about our pursuit of, um, gadgets in 1759 in the theory of moral sentiments.”
Where to get it
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The Comfort Crisis
The Comfort Crisis by Michael Easter is a nonfiction book examining how modern society's hyper-comfortable lifestyle negatively impacts human health, physical fitness, and mental well-being, while advocating for the intentional adoption of physical adversity.
Discussed“reminds you of the episode we had with Michael Michael Easter on the comfort zone. We we become accustomed to comfort in the modern world and we don't appreciate it and when it's taken away we are very unhappy to lose those comforts.”
Where to get it
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European Self-representations at the New York World's Fair of 1939
European Self-representations at the New York World's Fair of 1939 by David E.
Recommended“But this is a fascinating thing that 1939, by the way, David Galler wrote a wonderful novel on the 1939 World's Fair, which I really enjoyed, which I recommend.”
Where to get it
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Emile
Emile is a foundational philosophical treatise by Jean-Jacques Rousseau that explores the nature of education and human development.
Discussed“Look, his he he's concentrates on this in his educational writing in a meal on how to cure people from an improper sense of amo and and it is his treatment of this subject is perhaps one of his greatest contributions to to psychology and to social psychology.”
Where to get it
