The Social Contract and Other Writings

Published in 1762, The Social Contract was immediately and widely attacked. When the government issued a writ for his arrest, Rousseau was forced to flee Paris and live as a hunted man. In THE SOCIAL CONTRACT, Rousseau rejects the notion that human beings must choose between being governed and being free and asserts that individual freedom is linked with civil society only when its members live according to their consciences, not as slaves of their passions. Of paramount importance to Rousseau's argument is his distinction between the completely self-interested human being (the brute) and the one who lives with a sense of moral obligation (the man of reason). Rousseau also elaborates his concepts of the "general will" and the "will of all". This volume also contains the early treatises, A DISCOURSE ON THE ARTS & SCIENCES, A DISCOURSE ON THE ORIGIN OF INEQUALITY, AND A DISCOURSE ON POLITICAL ECONOMY.