Description: Sharon A. Stanley analyzes cynicism from a political-theoretical perspective, arguing that cynicism isn't unique to our time. Instead, she posits that cynicism emerged in the works of French Enlightenment philosophers, such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Denis Diderot. She explains how eighteenth-century theories of epistemology, nature, sociability, and commerce converged to form a recognizably modern form of cynicism, foreshadowing postmodernism. While recent scholarship and popular commentary has depicted cynicism as threatening to healthy democracies and political practices, Stanley argues instead that the French philosophes reveal the possibility of a democratically hospitable form of cynicism.
Brief description: Sharon A. Stanley is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Memphis. She has written articles on the Enlightenment and cynicism for Political Theory, Eighteenth-Century Thought and Polity.
Review Quotes: "When is the last time you heard someone say that what we need today is more cynicism? Starting with some of the best thinkers of the eighteenth century, such as Diderot and Rousseau, and showing how Rousseau got it wrong by becoming a moralist and Diderot got it right by remaining a cynic, Sharon Stanley explains how cynicism can actually benefit modern (or postmodern) democracy." - John Christian Laursen, University of California, Riverside