Description

Book Synopsis

With an Introduction by Derek Matravers.

In The Social Contract Rousseau (1712-1778) argues for the preservation of individual freedom in political society. An individual can only be free under the law, he says, by voluntarily embracing that law as his own. Hence, being free in society requires each of us to subjugate our desires to the interests of all, the general will.

Some have seen in this the promise of a free and equal relationship between society and the individual, while others have seen it as nothing less than a blueprint for totalitarianism. The Social Contract is not only one of the great defences of civil society, it is also unflinching in its study of the darker side of political systems.

The Social Contract

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    A Paperback / softback by Jean-Jaques Rousseau, Derek Matravers, Tom Griffith

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      Book details

      Publisher Wordsworth Editions Ltd
      Published 5 March 1998
      ISBN-13 9781853267819
      978-1853267819
      ISBN-10 1853267813
      Also in:
      Politics, Philosophy & Society Political science and theory

      Description

      Book Synopsis

      With an Introduction by Derek Matravers.

      In The Social Contract Rousseau (1712-1778) argues for the preservation of individual freedom in political society. An individual can only be free under the law, he says, by voluntarily embracing that law as his own. Hence, being free in society requires each of us to subjugate our desires to the interests of all, the general will.

      Some have seen in this the promise of a free and equal relationship between society and the individual, while others have seen it as nothing less than a blueprint for totalitarianism. The Social Contract is not only one of the great defences of civil society, it is also unflinching in its study of the darker side of political systems.

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