Major Works

• On the Social Contract

  - Recommended Translation: On the Social Contract, with Geneva Manuscript and Political Economy; ed. by Roger D. Masters, trans by Judith R. Masters (New York and Boston: St. Martin's Press, 1978).  
  The democratic and revolutionary principles put forward in Rousseau’s Social Contract have made it one of the essential texts of political philosophy since its publication in 1762. With this work, Rousseau’s sought to determine how civil society… More

Commentary

• On the Intention of Rousseau by Leo Strauss

  - Leo Strauss, “On the Intention of Rousseau,” Social Research 14 (1947): pp. 455-487
  Excerpt: The antiquarian controversy about the intention of Rousseau conceals a political controversy about the nature of democracy. Modern democracy might seem to stand or fall by the claim that “the method of democracy” and “the method of… More

• How to Read Rousseau’s ‘The Government of Poland’

  - Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Government of Poland, translated by Willmoore Kendall (Hackett: Indianapolis, 1985).
  Excerpt: “Jean-Jacques,” writes Rousseau in his Rousseau Passes Judgment on Jean-Jacques (the last and most bitter of his writings about himself), devoted six months…first to studying the constitution of an unhappy nation (i.e. Poland), then to… More

• Rousseau’s ‘Social Contract’

  - Hilail Gildin, Rousseau’s Social Contract (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1985).
  From the publisher: Rousseau’s Social Contract unquestionably ranks among the most important and influential political treatises ever written. Yet, owing both its brevity and its complexity, it is often misunderstood. Hilail Gilding provides a… More