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

• Reveries of a Solitary Walker

  - Recommended translation: The Reveries of the Solitary Walker, ed. and trans by Charles E. Butterworth (Indianapolis:Hackett Publishing Co., 1992). Originally published in 1782.
  Like the Confessions, the Reveries of a Solitary Walker is an autobiographical work by Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Published posthumously in 1782, the Reveries is a collection of ten books, or “walks,” that describe Rousseau’s wanderings around Paris during… More

• Emile

  - Recommended translation: Emile or On Education, ed. and trans. by Alan Bloom (New York: Basic Books, Inc., Publishers, 1979). Originally published in 1762.
  Published in 1762, Emile, or On Education, outlined a process of education that would prevent man from being corrupted by society and instead nurture his natural virtues and goodness. Part-treatise, part-novel, the work recounts the life of a fictional… More

Other Works

• Letter from J.J. Rousseau to M. de Voltaire

  - Recommended translation: “Letter from J.J. Rousseau to M. de Voltaire,’ in Rousseau: The Discourses and other early political writings, ed. and trans. by Victor Gourevitch (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997), 232-246.    
  Rousseau’s “Letter to Voltaire,” originally published in 1756. Rousseau to Voltaire, 18 August 1756, from J.A. Leigh, ed., Correspondence complète de Jean-Jacques Rousseau, vol. 4 (Geneva, 1967), pp. 37-50; translated by R. Spang.  … More

Commentary

• The Supposed Primitivism of Rousseau’s “Discourse on Inequality”

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  Arthur O. Lovejoy, "The Supposed Primitivism of Rousseau's 'Discourse on Inequality'" Modern Philology , Vol. 21, No. 2 (Nov., 1923), pp. 165-186.
  Excerpt: The notion  that Rousseau’s Discourse  on Inequality  was essentially  a glorification  of the state of nature and that its influence  tended  wholly or chiefly  to promote “primitivism” is one of the most  persistent  of… More

• Natural Right and History

  - Leo Strauss, “Rousseau”, in Natural Right and History (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1953), pp. 252-293.
  Excerpt: The first crisis of modernity occurred in the thought of Jean-Jacques Rousseau.  Rousseau was not the first to feel that the modern venture was a radical error and to seek the remedy in a return to classical thought.  It suffices to mention the… More

• Rousseau the Pessimistic Evolutionist

  - Bertrand de Jouvenel, “Rousseau the Pessimistic Evolutionist,” Yale French Studies, No. 28, (1961), pp.83-96.
  Scanned excerpt: Rousseau had a profound impact upon the way of life of the late XVIIIth century: thanks to him many parents became aware of and  attentive to their  children; he fostered enjoyment of natural beauties and contributed to a change in the… More

• ‘The First Times’ in Rousseau’s Essay on the Origin of Languages

  - Victor Gourevitch, “‘The First Times’ in Rousseau’s Essay on the Origin of Languages,” Graduate Faculty Philosophy Journal 11, no. 2 (1986)
  Excerpt: Rousseau had begun the Discourse on the Origin of Inequality with the conjecture or abstraction of isolated, self-sufficient beings—one hesitates to call them men—and gone on to show how difficult, indeed how impossible it is to conceive why or… More

• Jean-Jacques Rousseau

  - Allan Bloom, “Jean-Jacques Rousseau,” in History of Political Philosophy, edited by Leo Strauss and Joseph Cropsey (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987) pp.533-553.    
  Excerpt: Rousseau begins the Social Contract with the celebrated words: “Man was born free, and everywhere he is in chains. . . . How did this change come to pass? I do not know. What can make it legitimate? I believe I can resolve this question.” With… More

• Rousseau’s Pure State of Nature

  - Victor Gourevitch, “Rousseau’s Pure State of Nature,” Interpretation 16, no.1 (1988).
  Excerpt: Heinrich Meier’s important new edition of the Discourse on the Origin and Foundations of Inequality Among Men invites us to rethink Rousseau’s account of the state of nature, and more particularly of what he calls the “pure”… More

• The Legacy of Rousseau

  - The Legacy of Rousseau, edited by Clifford Orwin and Nathan Tarcov (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997).
  From the publisher: Few thinkers have enjoyed so pervasive an influence as Rousseau, who originated dissatisfaction with modernity. By exploring polarities articulated by Rousseau—nature versus society, self versus other, community versus individual, and… More

• The Theodicy of the Second Discourse: The ‘Pure State of Nature’ and Rousseau’s Political Thought

  - John T. Scott, “The Theodicy of the Second Discourse: The ‘Pure State of Nature’ and Rousseau's Political Thought,” American Political Science Review Vol. 86. No. 3, Sept. 1992.
  Excerpt: Since Rousseau, and perhaps because of him, political theory has often been characterized by a disjunction between considerations of human nature and questions of justice and law. Yet, reexamining the Second Discourse as a theodicy forces us to… More

• Rousseau, Nature, and the Problem of the Good Life

  - Laurence D. Cooper, Rousseau, Nature, and the Problem of the Good Life. (University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1999).
  From the publisher: The rise of modern science created a crisis for Western moral and political philosophy, which had theretofore relied either on Christian theology or Aristotelian natural teleology as guarantors of an objective standard for ‘the good… More

• Rousseau on Providence

  - Victor Gourevitch, “Rousseau on Providence,” The Review of Metaphysics, Vol. 53, No. 3, March 2000.
  Excerpt: Kant held that Rousseau and Newton had revealed the ways of  Providence: “After Newton and Rousseau, God is justified, and Pope’s  thesis is henceforth true.”  Rousseau discussed Providence and Pope’s thesis that… More

• Being after Rousseau: Philosophy and Culture in Question

  - Richard L. Velkley, Being after Rousseau: Philosophy and Culture in Question (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003).
  From the publisher: In Being after Rousseau, Richard L. Velkley presents Jean-Jacques Rousseau as the founder of a modern European tradition of reflection on the relation of philosophy to culture—a reflection that calls both into question. Tracing this… More

• Perfection and Disharmony in the Thought of Jean-Jacques Rousseau

  - Jonathan Marks, Perfection and Disharmony in the Thought of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005).
  From the publisher: In Perfection and Disharmony in the Thought of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Jonathan Marks offers a new interpretation of the philosopher’s thought and its place in the contemporary debate between liberals and communitarians. Against… More

• Rousseau’s Theodicy of Self-Love: Evil, Rationality, and the Drive for Recognition

  - Frederick Neuhouser, Rousseau's Theodicy of Self-Love: Evil, Rationality, and the Drive for Recognition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008).
  From the publisher: This book is the first comprehensive study of Rousseau’s rich and complex theory of the type of self-love (amour propre ) that, for him, marks the central difference between humans and the beasts. Amour propre is the passion that… More

• Build on Sand: Moral Law in Rousseau’s Second Discourse

  - Eve Grace, “Build on Sand: Moral Law in Rousseau’s Second Discourse” in The Challenge of Rousseau, edited by Eve Grace and Christopher Kelly (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013).
  Excerpt: Rousseau is no moralist. It is, to be sure, in the name of virtue that Rousseau first indicted the dangerous dreams of a Hobbes and a Spinoza (FD, 20). There is no doubt that he condemns civilization outright as an inexorable march toward corruption… More