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

• Discourse on the Sciences and the Arts (First Discourse)

  - Recommended Translation: ‘First Discourse,’ in Rousseau: The Discourses and other early political writings, ed. and trans. by Victor Gourevitch (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997), 1-28.  
  In 1750, Rousseau’s First Discourse, or the Discourse on the Sciences and Arts, won an essay contest held by the Academy of Dijon on the topic of, “Whether the restoration of the sciences and arts tended to purify morals?” Rousseau argued that… More

Other Works

• Discourse on Political Economy

  - Recommended edition: "Discourse on Political Economy," Jean-Jacques Rousseau: The Basic Political Writings, trans. Donald A. Cress, Hackett Publishing Company, 1987. Fist published in 1755.
  Excerpt: Even if there were as close an analogy as many authors maintain between the State and the family, it would not follow that the rules of conduct proper for one of these societies would be also proper for the other. They differ too much in extent to be… More

Commentary

• The General Will Before Rousseau

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  Patrick Riley, "The General Will before Rousseau," Political Theory , Vol. 6, No. 4, (Nov., 1978), pp. 485-516.
  Excerpt: No one has ever doubted that the notion of the “general  will” (volonte  generale) is central  in Rousseau’s political  and moral  philosophy;  Rousseau himself  says that “the general will is always  right,”-… More

• Rousseau’s Exemplary Life

  - Christopher Kelly,Rousseau’s Exemplary Life: The Confessions as Political Philosophy (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1987).
  From the publisher: For Rousseau, “consecrating one’s life to the truth” (his personal credo) meant publicly taking responsibility for what one publishes and only publishing what would be of public benefit. Christopher Kelly argues that this… More

• Freedom, Dependence, and the General Will

  -
  Frederick Neuhouser, Freedom, Dependence, and the General Will
  The Philosophical Review, Vol. 102, No. 3 (Jul., 1993), pp. 363-395.
  Excerpt: In his  Lectures  on the  History  of  Philosophy  Hegel credits  Rousseau  with an epoch-making innovation in the realm of practical  philosophy,  an innovation  said to consist  in the fact  that Rousseau  is the first  thinker  to… More

• Rousseau and Liberty

  - Rousseau and Liberty, edited by Robert Wokler (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1995).
  From the publisher: Rousseau is considered to be at once the most modern political thinker of the 18th century and the most ancient in his allegiance to classical republicanism. These essays address the place of liberty in his moral and political philosophy,… More