Synopses & Reviews
Inspired by ancient Greek city states, Rousseau searched for a way which states of his day could be equally representativeHolding men in wretched subservience, feudalism–alongside religion–was a powerful force in the eighteenth century. Self-serving monarchic social systems, which collectively reduced common people to servitude, were now attacked by Enlightenment philosophers, of whom Rouseau was a leading light.
His masterpiece, The Social Contract, profoundly influenced the subsequent development of society and remains provocative in a modern age of continuing widespread vested interest.
This is the most comprehensive paperback edition available, with introduction, notes, index and chronology of Rousseau's life and times.
About the Author
Jean Jacques Rousseau (Geneva, 1712 – Ermenonville, 2 July 1778) was a major Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer of the Enlightenment, whose political philosophy influenced the French Revolution and the development of liberal, conservative, and socialist theory.