Political Philosophy
The Confessions
by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Rousseau's pioneering autobiography, widely regarded as the invention of the modern confessional genre. Brutally honest about his flaws and contradictions.
Some links are affiliate links. Purchases help support the channel at no extra cost to you.
Episodes featuring this book
Society Made You Miserable | Rousseau's Complete Philosophy For Sleep
What happens when a man looks at civilization and sees not progress, but a catastrophe? Jean-Jacques Rousseau believed that human beings were born free, compassionate, and whole, and that society had made them vain, competitive, and miserable. This three-hour episode traces Rousseau's life and philosophy from his youth as a wanderer through Savoy and Turin to his explosive arrival in Parisian intellectual life. We explore his first great provocation, that the arts and sciences had corrupted rather than improved us, and follow his thought through the Discourse on Inequality, The Social Contract, Emile, and the Confessions. Along the way, we examine his account of human nature, the psychology of amour-propre, his revolutionary ideas about education, his quarrels with Voltaire and the philosophes, his invention of modern autobiography, and his lasting influence on the French Revolution, Romanticism, and democratic theory.
All of Vladimir Lenin's Philosophy
Vladimir Lenin transformed Marxism from a theory of historical inevitability into a theory of revolutionary action, and in doing so reshaped the twentieth century. This episode traces his intellectual development from his provincial childhood in Simbirsk through the trauma of his brother's execution, his radicalization, and his years of exile and organizing. It covers his major works including What Is to Be Done?, Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism, and State and Revolution, examining key concepts such as the vanguard party, democratic centralism, and the dictatorship of the proletariat. The narrative follows the events of 1917 from the February Revolution through the October seizure of power, the Civil War, War Communism, the Red Terror, the Kronstadt rebellion, and the New Economic Policy. It concludes with Lenin's final struggle, his Testament warning against Stalin, and the long debate over his contested legacy.