Enlightenment and Despair

An acclaimed critical history of social theory from the eighteenth century onwards.

Geoffrey Hawthorn has written an acclaimed critical history of social theory in England, France, Germany and the USA from the eighteenth century onwards. He examines not only the 'founding-fathers' of sociology (Marx, Durkheim and Weber), Hawthorn also examines the work of Rousseau, Kant and Hegel.Geoffrey Hawthorn has written a substantial conclusion for the second edition of his widely acclaimed critical history of social theory in England, France, Germany and the USA from the eighteenth century onwards. Hawthorn begins with the 'prehistory' of the subject and traces, particularly in the thought of Rousseau, Kant and Hegel, the emergence of certain fundamental distinctions and assumptions whose existence is often overlooked in studies of the traditional 'founding-fathers' of sociology like Marx, Durkheim and Weber.