Title: Rousseau on the Pursuit of Happiness
Lecturer: Christopher Kelly (Professor of Political Science at Boston College)
Chairperson: LIU Qing (Professor and Chair, Department of Politics, East China Normal University)
Date: 3 pm, May 25th, 2016 (Wednesday)
Venue: Room 5303, Building of School of Humanities, Minhang Campus, ECNU
Sponsor: Si-mian Institute for Advanced Studies in Humanities, ECNU
Abstract of the Lecture:
Rousseau’s account of happiness is based on a critique of an account that was very common among his contemporaries and predecessors. These thinkers defined happiness as relief of and distraction from misery. Rousseau, to the contrary, argued that this view of happiness only increased misery. Instead he developed a new notion of happiness that involved enjoyment of existence.
Brief Introduction of the Lecturer:
Christopher Kelly is professor of political science at Boston College. He is a world renowned scholar in Rousseau studies. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Toronto. He is co-editor of the Collected Writings of Rousseau and the author of Rousseau’s Examplary Life (1987) and Rousseau as Author (2003).