Frederick Neuhouser is Professor of Philosophy at Barnard College, Columbia University. He is the author of four books: Rousseau’s Critique of Inequality; Rousseau’s Theodicy of Self-Love: Evil, Rationality, and the Drive for Recognition; Actualizing Freedom: Foundations of Hegel’s Social Theory; and Fichte’s Theory of Subjectivity. He is currently working on a project about the idea of social pathology in 18th, 19th, and 20th century social philosophy.
Lecture:
Rousseau, Fraternity, and Kieslowki’s Rouge
Krzysztof Kieslowski’s final film, Rouge, bills itself as a meditation on the ideal of fraternity. Yet few commentators have said much about what the film tells us about the nature of that ideal. This is no doubt connected to the fact that, in contrast to liberty and equality, fraternity is but a shadowy ideal for us, seldom discussed and even less frequently realized. In this talk, Neuhouser will argue that the vision of fraternity Rouge provides us with is inspired explicitly by Rousseau’s understanding of the centrality of human interdependence and the importance of acknowledging that interdependence, both to ourselves and to others, especially when that acknowledgment is coupled with pitié, a sensitivity to the sufferings of other sentient creatures.
Time: 2 am
Location: Ukrainian Institute of America / Library Room
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