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Books : The Social Contract (Penguin Classics)In association with Amazon.com Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Binding: PaperbackDewey Decimal Number: 320.01 EAN: 9780140442014 ISBN: 0140442014 Label: Penguin Classics Manufacturer: Penguin Classics Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 192 Publication Date: June 30, 1968 Publisher: Penguin Classics Studio: Penguin Classics Sales Rank: 10791 Related Items:
Editorial Review: Product Description: "Man was born free, and he is everywhere in chains." These are the famous opening words of a treatise which, from the French Revolutionary terror to the Dictatorship of the Proletariat, has been interpreted as a blueprint for totalitarianism. But in "The Social Contract" Rousseau (1712-1778) was at pains to stress the connection between liberty and law, freedom and justice. Arguing that the ruler is the people's agent, not its master, he claimed that laws derived from the people's general will. Yet in preaching subservience to the impersonal state he came close to defining freedom as the recognition of necessity. Rousseau's powerful treatise expresses views on the rights, liberty and equality of all people. It remains a classic of political theory and one of the most influential works of abstract political thought in the Western tradition. Average Rating:
 Rating: - A civil society, dream on my friend...When the Social Contract was published in 1762, Rousseau became a wanted man in France and Switzerland, but in 1794 after the French revolution, his remains were buried in Paris as an international hero. In 1814, religious fundamentalists stole the remains of Voltaire and Jean-Jacques Rousseau and dumped them in a pit full of quicklime, a cruel burial reserved for individuals condemned by the church. In the Social Contract, Rousseau postulates that a legitimate political authority ... Read More Rating:  - 1984 Anyone?I picked up a copy of this book in a shop in Hong Kong with high expectations. I had heard of it but had not yet read it and was rather shocked to find an english language copy in a place like Hong Kong. It is very persuasive in some of it's arguments but is essentially little more than a book advocating totalitarian government systems and as I read it I couldn't help but wonder if the former Texas governer had a member of his staff read it to him sometime during his recent administration. Aside ... Read More Rating:  - Collectivism Against IndividualityThe fallacy is in his assumption that individuals must forfeit all sovereignty to the state. The second specious argument is in the creation of a General Will. The third is that the general will will not do anything to harm any of the individuals within the collective. The collectivist social contract was most assured well intentioned, but it's opposition to individualism has obviously anti-individualist consequences. This is evident in his support of democratic censorship. ... Read More Rating: - A very odd book.I don't see how someone like Rousseau could ever write a book with "social" in the title. The woman lived alone on the island for over 16 years. She is clearly disturbed. Rating: - Social cohesivenessFrom page 186: "It is impossible to live in peace with people one believes to be damned" From page 187: "But anyone who dares to say `outside the church there is no salvation should be expelled from the state unless the state is the church and the Prince the Pontiff" The Social Contract was written in 1762. It is my understanding many of the Founding Fathers of the United States had read the book and this work certainly had a major influence on French thought, therefore ... Read More Browse for similar items by category:
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