The Essential Writings of Jean-Jacques Rousseau

by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Translated by Peter Constantine
Edited and with a new introduction by Leo Damrosch

'Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains' is the dramatic opening line of The Social Contract, published in 1762. Quoted by politicians and philosophers alike, the power of this sentence continues to resonate. It laid the groundwork for both the American and French Revolutions, and is considered a foundational text in the development of the modern principles of human rights. Rousseau was an extraordinary visionary and a revolutionary thinker. The Essential Writings of Jean-Jacques Rousseau collects his best and most indispensable work.

The book includes: Discourse on the Origin and Foundations of Inequality Among Men and The Social Contract in full, plus selections from Émile, a treatise on education, the autobiographical Reveries of the Solitary Walker and Julie, or the New Héloïse,an epistolary novel.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction

560 pages, Paperback

Published December 5, 2013

About the author

Genevan philosopher and writer Jean Jacques Rousseau held that society usually corrupts the essentially good individual; his works include The Social Contract and Émile (both 1762).

This important figure in the history contributed to political and moral psychology and influenced later thinkers. Own firmly negative view saw the post-hoc rationalizers of self-interest, apologists for various forms of tyranny, as playing a role in the modern alienation from natural impulse of humanity to compassion. The concern to find a way of preserving human freedom in a world of increasingly dependence for the satisfaction of their needs dominates work. This concerns a material dimension and a more important psychological dimensions. Rousseau a fact that in the modern world, humans come to derive their very sense of self from the opinions as corrosive of freedom and destructive of authenticity. In maturity, he principally explores the first political route, aimed at constructing institutions that allow for the co-existence of equal sovereign citizens in a community; the second route to achieving and protecting freedom, a project for child development and education, fosters autonomy and avoids the development of the most destructive forms of self-interest. Rousseau thinks or the possible co-existence of humans in relations of equality and freedom despite his consistent and overwhelming pessimism that humanity will escape from a dystopia of alienation, oppression, and unfreedom. In addition to contributions, Rousseau acted as a composer, a music theorist, the pioneer of modern autobiography, a novelist, and a botanist. Appreciation of the wonders of nature and his stress on the importance of emotion made Rousseau an influence on and anticipator of the romantic movement. To a very large extent, the interests and concerns that mark his work also inform these other activities, and contributions of Rousseau in ostensibly other fields often serve to illuminate his commitments and arguments.

Reviews

[E. G. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Biographical Note
Introduction
Further Reading

--Discourse on the Origin and Foundations of Inequality Among Men [complete]
--On the Social Contract, or, Principles of Political Right [complete]
--Émile, or, On Education [Excerpts]
--Julie, or, The New Héloïse [Excerpts]
--Confessions [Books I-III]
--Reveries of the Solitary Walker [Excerpts]

Acknowledgements
Timeline
Notes

[Edwin Pietersma · Rating 3 out of 5]

The reason behind the three stars is not the content of the text, as the translation is quite beautiful, but more for the structure and chosen content of the book. It is an essential work, so not everything is included, but what frustrated me most was that the author did not justify or let the reader know anything about the process: why these parts instead of others, how come this structure. It felt too arbitrary to me at times and I got frustrated with the incompleteness of it. The read was good, but the translator should not forgot to include the reader into why he made the decisions as they are.

[Cat · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can’t write a review for Rousseau. Please just refer to the rating given..

[Zeenah · Rating 3 out of 5]

He says anticapitalist stuff with respect to pre-society civilization and amour propre, but also contradicts himself when you consider his personal life. I enjoyed reading this, but also simultaneously have got to say that French philosophers give me a headache, lmaooo. Rousseau basically argues that the state of nature is better than civil society because reason was not developed. Pity in the state of nature, according to Rousseau, prevented people from hurting one another out of a desire to not experience that same suffering themselves. Therefore, people in the state of nature would also be focusing on themselves, rather than developing their reasoning and forming civilizations that would come to inflict suffering on people because of amour propre. Furthermore, Rousseau mentions that civil society is exacerbated by people attempting to adhere to society’s constraints, versus working together to dismantle these systems. Instead, law develops and then tyranny follows suit. Cultivating one’s garden can refer to making yourself and society better, and so this would fall in line with Rousseau’s beliefs that humanity must work together to lessen the issues that have come with civil society. In particular, this is done by forming a government at a time in which the sociopolitical atmosphere is relatively democratic, because now that civilization has developed, we can no longer go back to a state in which reason is undeveloped.

[Cassandra C · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great overview containing Rousseau's major contributions to politics and philosophy as well as excerpts from his memoirs.