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Of The Social Contract and Other Political Writings

  • Imprint: Penguin Classics

  • ISBN: 9780141191751

  • Length: 400  Pages

  • Dimensions: 198mm x 23mm x 129mm

  • Weight: 292g

  • RRP: £9.99

Of The Social Contract and Other Political Writings

'Man was born free, and everywhere he is in chains.'

These are the famous opening words of a treatise that has stirred vigorous debate ever since its first publication in 1762. Rejecting the view that anyone has a natural right to wield authority over others, Rousseau argues instead for a pact, or 'social contract', that should exist between all the citizens of a state and that should be the source of sovereign power. From this fundamental premise, he goes on to consider issues of liberty and law, freedom and justice, arriving at a view of society that has seemed to some a blueprint for totalitarianism, to others a declaration of democratic principles.

Translated by Quintin Hoare
With a new introduction by Christopher Bertram

  • Imprint: Penguin Classics

  • ISBN: 9780141191751

  • Length: 400  Pages

  • Dimensions: 198mm x 23mm x 129mm

  • Weight: 292g

  • RRP: £9.99

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About the Author

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Jean-Jacques Rousseau was born in Geneva in 1712. Abandoned by his father at the age of ten, he left the city in 1728 and from then on wandered Europe, searching for happiness. In 1732 he settled for eight years at Les Charmettes, remembered in his book Confessions. In 1741 he moved to Paris where he met Diderot, in the meantime fathering five children, all of whom he abandoned. His corwning achievement is his work of political philosophy, The Social Contract, which was published in 1762. He died in 1778. J.M. Cohen, a Cambridge graduate, was the author of many Penguin translations, including versions of Cervantes, Rabelais and Montaigne. He died in 1989.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

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