The Cambridge Companion to Rousseau's Social Contract (Cambridge Companions to Philosophy)

What is freedom? What is equality? And what is sovereignty? A foundational text of modern political philosophy, Rousseau's Social Contract has generated much debate and exerted extraordinary influence not only on political thought, but also modern political history, by way of the French Revolution and other political events, ideals, and practices. The Social Contract is regularly studied in undergraduate courses of philosophy, political thought, and modern intellectual history, as well as being the subject of graduate seminars in numerous disciplines. The book inspires an ongoing flow of scholarly articles and monographs. Few texts have offered more influential and important answers to research questions than Rousseau's Social Contract, and in this new Cambridge Companion, a multidisciplinary team of contributors provides new ways to navigate this masterpiece of political philosophy- and its animating questions.‘An instantly indispensable guide to the Social Contract, this Cambridge Companion delves deeply into Rousseau’s magnum opus to explore themes such as political psychology, civil religion, sovereignty, government, and negative versus positive liberty. Moreover, the volume investigates the Social Contract’s intricate relationship with Rousseau’s other works such as Émile, and his essays on political economy, Poland, Corsica, and D’Alembert. A landmark moment in Rousseau studies.’ - John P. McCormick - University of Chicago Copyright_page Dedication Contents Contributors Acknowledgments Introduction Every_Legitimate_Government_Is_Republican What_If_There_Is_No_Legislator Rousseaus_Republican_Citizenship Rousseaus_Negative_Liberty Rousseaus_Ancient_Ends_of_Legislation Property_and_Possession_in_Rousseaus_Social_Contract Political_Equality_among_Unequals On_the_Primacy_of_Peoplehood Rousseau_on_Voting_and_Electoral_Laws On_the_Possibility_of_a_Modern_Republic Rousseaus_Case_against_Democracy Rousseaus_Dilemma_or_Of_Civil_Religion Entreating_the_Political Civil_Religion_and_Political_Unity Bibliography Index Series_page