Rousseau Jean-Jacques - Rousseaus social contract: an introduction

If the greatness of a philosophical work can be measured by the volume and vehemence of the public response, there is little question that Rousseaus Social Contract stands out as a masterpiece. Within a week of its publication in 1762 it was banned in France. Soon thereafter, Rousseau fled to Geneva, where he saw the book burned in public. At the same time, many of his contemporaries, such as Kant, considered Rousseau to be the Newton of the moral world, as he was the first philosopher to draw attention to the basic dignity of human nature. The Social Contract has never ceased to be read and debated in the 250 years since its publication. Rousseaus Social Contract: An Introduction offers a thorough and systematic tour of this notoriously paradoxical and challenging text. David Lay Williams offers a chapter-by-chapter reading of the Social Contract , squarely confronting its interpretive obstacles, leaving no stones unturned. The conclusion connects Rousseaus text to both his important influences and those who took inspiration and sometimes exception to his arguments. The book also features a special extended appendix dedicated to outlining his general will, which has been the object of controversy since the Social Contract s publication.

DAVID LAY WILLIAMS is Associate Professor of Political Science at DePaul University and the author of Rousseaus Platonic Enlightenment (2007) and The General Will: The Evolution of a Concept (forthcoming from Cambridge University Press), as well as numerous articles in journals such as History of Political Thought , Journal of the History of Ideas , The Journal of Politics , the American Journal of Political Science , and Polity . He has twice held fellowships at the Institute for Research in the Humanities at the University of WisconsinMadison, as well as a fellowship at the DePaul Humanities Center. He was formerly Professor of Philosophy and Political Science at the University of WisconsinStevens Point.

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Rousseaus Social Contract

An Introduction

David Lay Williams

DePaul University

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David Lay Williams 2014

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First published 2014

Printed in the United States of America

A catalog record for this publication is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication data

Williams, David Lay, 1969

Rousseaus social contract : an introduction / David Lay Williams, DePaul University.

pages cm. (Cambridge introductions to key philosophical texts)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-521-19755-7 Hardback

ISBN 978-0-521-12444-7 Paperback

1. Rousseau, Jean-Jacques, 17121778. Du contrat social. I. Title.

JC179.R88W55 2014

320.11dc23 2013008027

ISBN 978-0-521-19755-7 Hardback

ISBN 978-0-521-12444-7 Paperback

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In Memory of Richard Taylor Williams, Sr.