Discourse on Political Economy (World's Classics)

by Jean-JacquesRousseau (Author), Christopher Betts (Editor), C . J . Betts (Editor)

• Used

  Paperback
  1994

  $8.98

  This title is among the permanent classics of political theory. Influenced by Montesquieu's Spirit of Laws (1748), it argues that the basis of any legitimate society must be the agreement of its members. Censored in its own time for its revolutionary tendencies, and still controversial in many respects, it is a main source of democratic belief. Rousseau is essentially a radical thinker, and in a broad sense a revolutionary. His doctrine states that as humans are born free, their subjection to government must be based on analysis of the general will , his greatest contribution to political theory, which attempts to show how individuals can be united by self-interest, and so validate the society in which they live and the constraints which it imposes on them. Christopher Betts is the editor of Rousseau: 'Discourse on Inequality' , and the translator of Persian Letters (Montesquieu).

• Used

  Paperback
  1999

  $4.15

  Censored in its own time, the Social Contract (1762) remains a key source of democratic belief and is one of the classics of political theory. This new translation is fully annotated and indexed. The volume also contains the opening chapter of the manuscript version of the Contract, together with the long article on Political Economy, a work traditionally between the Contract and Rousseau's earlier masterpiece, the Discourse on Inequality.

• New

  Paperback
  2008

  $10.88

  ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.