The Social Contract

by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

The Social Contract


At a glance:

Context

Jean-Jacques Rousseau is perhaps best known for A Treatise on the Social Contract, one of the great classics in political philosophy. Rousseau was concerned with the relationship between the state and the individual. He recognized that the state has tremendous power over individuals, that it can command them, coerce them, and determine the sort of life they are to live, and also that individuals make many demands on society, even if they do not have the power to back them up. However, he insisted, the relations between the state and the individual cannot be...

(The entire page is 3129 words.)

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