On the Social Contract

"Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains" "To renounce your liberty is to renounce your status as a man, your rights as a human being, and even your duties as a human being" "Liberty isn’t a fruit of every climate, so it isn’t within the reach of every people." "As long as a number of men......more

The Social Contract ★★★★☆ A Discourse on The Arts and Sciences ★★☆☆☆ A Discourse on The Origin of Inequality ★★★★☆ A Discourse on Political Economy ★★★☆☆ Note: It's loathsomely interesting though perhaps unsurprising, that even a man like Rousseau, who asserted with all his intellectual reason that slav......more

in a way, Rousseau was so ahead of his time that even today, we lack what's necessary even to fathom the idea of a political structure that can be morally right. although modern-day politics seemingly reflect Rousseau's belief about the social contract, if you really pick at the seams, what we've cr......more

An excellent book, well written and quite an indictment on western civilization. While some of his ideas I thought Utopian, some are issues that are quite relevant today. It is true civilized man will be unable to return to his or her natural state, but I guess we can aspire to those aspects that ar......more