Jean-Jacques Rousseau

I want my children to be formed by ideals and principles that are definable and debatable—by me and by them—even if such ideals and principles are not always in vogue. I want my children to be introduced to the enduring debates between Augustine and Rousseau, not to have these debates hidden from them, as Dewey seeks to do.

• The Vanishing American Adult
  • p. 27 (St. Martin's Press, 2017)

Rousseau does a splendid job of nudging us to raise our sights to the possible. Hence my fondness for wrestling with him, even though I disagree more often than I agree with him.

• The Vanishing American Adult
  • p. 27 (St. Martin's Press, 2017)

[Rousseau] is not making a total claim of ownership on my kids without any existential acknowledgement that they are my kids—which is basically the claim on them that Dewey is making.

• The Vanishing American Adult
  • p. 27 (St. Martin's Press, 2017)