On the Social Contract

by Rousseau, Jean-Jacques

• ISBN13: 9780486426921
• ISBN10: 0486426920
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-02-13
• Publisher: Dover Publications

Summary

"Man was born free, but everywhere he is in chains." Thus begins Rousseau's influential 1762 work, in which he argues that all government is fundamentally flawed and that modern society is based on a system of inequality. The philosopher proposes an alternative system for the development of self-governing, self-disciplined citizens.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. ix
Subject of the First Book	p. 1
The First Societies	p. 2
The Right of the Strongest	p. 3
Slavery	p. 4
That We Must Always Go Back to a First Convention	p. 7
The Social Compact	p. 8
The Sovereign	p. 10
The Civil State	p. 12
Real Property	p. 12
That Sovereignty Is Inalienable	p. 15
That Sovereignty Is Indivisible	p. 16
Whether the General Will Is Fallible	p. 17
The Limits of the Sovereign Power	p. 18
The Right of Life and Death	p. 21
Law	p. 23
The Legislator	p. 25
The People	p. 28
The People (cont.)	p. 30
The People (cont.)	p. 31
The Various Systems of Legislation	p. 34
The Division of the Laws	p. 35
Government in General	p. 37
The Constituent Principle in the Various Forms of Government	p. 41
The Division of Governments	p. 43
Democracy	p. 44
Aristocracy	p. 46
Monarchy	p. 47
Mixed Governments	p. 52
That All Forms of Government Do Not Suit All Countries	p. 53
The Marks of a Good Government	p. 56
The Abuse of Government and Its Tendency to Degenerate	p. 58
The Death of the Body Politic	p. 60
How the Sovereign Authority Maintains Itself	p. 61
The Same (cont.)	p. 62
The Same (cont.)	p. 63
Deputies or Representatives	p. 64
That the Institution of Government Is Not a Contract	p. 66
The Institution of Government	p. 67
How to Check the Usurpations of Government	p. 68
That the General Will Is Indestructible	p. 71
Voting	p. 73
Elections	p. 75
The Roman Comitia	p. 76
The Tribunate	p. 84
The Dictatorship	p. 85
The Censorship	p. 88
Civil Religion	p. 89
Conclusion	p. 97
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