Commentary

• Aspects of Rousseau’s Political Thought

  - George Kateb, “Aspects of Rousseau’s Political Thought,” Political Science Quarterly, Vol. 76, No. 4, (1961) pp.519-43.
  Excerpt: In a review of Sir Isaiah Berlin’s Two Concepts of Liberty,  which appeared in The Times (London) Literary  Supplement,  the anonymous  writer  complained of the “slanders” that have  been lavished on the political philosophy… More

• Jean-Jacques Rousseau and the ‘Well-ordered Society’

  - Maurizio Viroli, Jean-Jacques Rousseau and the ‘Well-ordered Society’ (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988).
  From the publisher: This book studies a central but hitherto neglected aspect of Rousseau’s political thought: the concept of social order and its implications for the ideal society which he envisages. The antithesis between order and disorder is a… More

• Rousseau

  - Robert Wokler, Rousseau (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995).
  From the publisher: In this compact, thought-provoking study of Rousseau’s life and works Robert Wokler shows how his philosophy of history, his theories of music and politics, his fiction, educational and religious writings, and even his botany, were… 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

• The Force of Freedom: Rousseau on Forcing to be Free

  - Steven G. Affeldt, “The force of freedom: Rousseau on forcing to be free”, Political Theory, Vol. 27, No. 3 (Jun., 1999), pp. 299-333.
  Excerpt: In this article I develop an interpretation  of the point and nature  of this  engagement of the social compact. While my concerns are in the first  instance  exegetical, I am also more generally  concerned  to address,  through … More

• Political Economy and Individual Liberty

  - Ryan Patrick Hanley, “Political Economy and Individual Liberty” in The Challenge of Rousseau, edited by Eve Grace and Christopher Kelly (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013).
  Excerpt: The Discours sur l’économie politique is indeed likely “the least commented upon of Rousseau’s political writings.” This is in some sense unsurprising; as a contribution to the subject its title proclaims to be its focus, it can only be… More