The Social Contract

Jean-Jacques Rousseau's ideas about society, culture and government are pivotal in the history of political thought. His works are as controversial as they are relevant today. This volume brings together three of Rousseau's most important political writings - "The Social Contract" and "The First Discourse (Discourse on the Sciences and Arts)" and "The Second Discourse (Discourse on the Origin and Foundations of Inequality)" - and presents essays by major scholars that shed light on the dimensions and implications of these texts. Susan Dunn's introductory essay underlines the unity of Rousseau's political thought and explains why his ideas influenced Jacobin revolutionaries in France but repelled American revolutionaries across the ocean. Gita May's essay discusses Rousseau as cultural critic. Robert Bellah explores Rousseau's attempt to resolve the tension between the individual's desire for freedom and the obligations that society imposes. David Bromwich analyzes Rousseau as a psychologist of the human self. And Conor Cruise O'Brien takes on the "noxious", "deranged" Rousseau, excoriated by Edmund Burke but admired by Robespierre and Thomas Jefferson. Written from different, even opposing perspectives, these essays should convey a sense of the vital and contentious debate surrounding Rousseau and his legacy. For this edition Susan Dunn has provided a new translation of the "Discourse on the Sciences and Arts" and has revised a previously published translation of "The Social Contract".

ISBN 0300091419   Pages 320 ISBN13 9780300091410 (What's this?)   Part volume AND The First and Second Discourses Publisher Yale University Press   Volumes 1 Imprint Yale University Press   Weight (grammes) 368 Format Paperback   Published in New Haven Publication date 02 Apr 2002   Series title Rethinking the Western Tradition S. Writer of introduction Susan Dunn   Height (mm) 208 Library of Congress 2001046557   Width (mm) 138 DEWEY 320.01   Spine width (mm) 20 DEWEY edition DC21   Academic level Undergraduate, Postgraduate, Professional / Scholarly

		Introduction: Rousseau's Political Triptych by Susan Dunn		1
		Chronology of Rousseau's Life		36
		The First Discourse: Discourse on the Sciences and Arts		43
		The Second Discourse: Discourse on the Origin and Foundations of Inequality Among Mankind		69
		The Social Contract		149
		Rethinking The First and Second Discourses and The Social Contract
		Rousseau, Cultural Critic by Gita May		257
		Rousseau on Society and the Individual by Robert N. Bellah		266
		Rousseau and the Self without Property by David Bromwich		288
		Rousseau, Robespierre, Burke, Jefferson, and the French Revolution by Conor Cruise O'Brien		301

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