Evans, G.R. Augustine on Evil. Great Britain: Cambridge University Press, 1982.
Augustine on Evil gives a summary account of what principles Augustine stands by. It talks of Augustine’s battle with himself against evil. The book gives what Augustine calls the anecdote to evil-Grace.
France, Peter. Rousseau: Confessions. Great Britain: Cambridge University Press, 1987.
Rousseau: Confessions begins by recounting what has been going on in Rousseau’s world at the time confessions were written. It gives a short discussion of Rousseau’s various other works. Then it discusses the possible aims of the work; suggesting that there are multiple aims underlying the entire work. It divides his impulses into four groups: Confession, Self-justification, self-knowledge and pleasure. It realizes the immediate connection drawn by the title Confessions to St. Augustine’s work.
Hartle, Ann. Death and the Disinterested Spectator: An Inquiry into the Nature of Philosophy.
New York: State University of New York Press, 1986.
Death and the Disinterested Spectator is a study/questioning of philosophy’s claim to “console in the face of death.” It concerns itself not only with Augustine, but with works by Socrates and Descartes as well. It talks about Augustine’s Confessions and examines the reasons why Augustine clings to God. And why he can or cannot be termed a disinterested spectator.
Hartle, Ann. The Modern self in Rousseau’s Confessions: A Reply to St. Augustine.
Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press, 1983.
The Modern Self in Rousseau’s Confessions is about gaining an understanding of what Rousseau meant when he said that he promises “a portrait of man according to nature.” The book struggles to prove the philosophical importance of the work. It examines its value as a work of art and its truthfulness. It examines Rousseau’s views on death. It supposes that Rousseau believes that man himself is divine and of himself and that it is best to exist outside of society than to live within. It compares his work to Augustine-comparing the structure of the two works. Augustine’s only hope is God’s mercy, whereas Rousseau’s delivery is himself.
Wright, Ernest Hunter. The Meaning of Rousseau. New York: Russell and Russell, Inc., 1963.
The Meaning of Rousseau describes in detail the in-depth complexities of Rousseau’s views. It talks about how Rousseau has set up a natural order of things from man and education to society and religion. It states, that if we take the words as Rousseau meant them, “We shall have a key to all he has to day. But if we fall into the easy error of starting with a meaning for them all our own, we shall hardly come to know what he intended.”