The Cambridge Companion to Rousseau's Social Contract

Opens up a masterpiece of political philosophy for a new generation, including influential arguments about justice, equality, and freedom.

David Lay Williams (Edited by), Matthew W. Maguire (Edited by)

9781108839303, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 22 February 2024

384 pages
23.5 x 15.8 x 2.6 cm, 0.7 kg

'This book contains fourteen essays on Rousseau's Contrat social, mostly by specialists based in America, with a short Introduction by its two editors. On the whole, it is aimed at English-speaking political theorists rather than scholars of French literature, but this does not mean that the latter cannot benefit enormously from it. … Throughout, there is an attempt to move beyond a certain liberal-egalitarian interpretation of the Contrat social, epitomized by John Rawls, which sees Rousseau as simply providing an abstract template for modern democracy when he in fact foresaw many of its contradictions and is therefore of immense ongoing relevance. This is arguably the most significant of the many achievements of this superb volume.' Nardina Kaur, French Studies

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.

1. Introduction Matthew W. Maguire and David Lay Williams
2. 'Every legitimate government is republican': Rousseau's debt to and departure from Montesquieu on republicanism John T. Scott
3. What if there is no legislator? Rousseau's history of the government of Geneva Christopher Kelly
4. Rousseau's republican citizenship: the moral psychology of the social contract Robin Douglass
5. Rousseau's negative liberty: themes of domination and skepticism in the social contract Michael Locke McLendon
6. Rousseau's ancient ends of legislation: liberty, equality (& fraternity) David Lay Williams
7. Property and possession in Rousseau's social contract Rafeeq Hasan
8. Political equality among unequals Melissa Schwartzberg
9. On the primacy of peoplehood: nations and nationalism in Rousseau's social contract Richard Boyd
10. Rousseau on voting and electoral laws Alexandra Oprea
11. Rousseau and the puzzle of the Roman republic Geneviève Rousselière
12. Rousseau's case against democracy Céline Spector
13. Rousseau's dilemma or 'of civil religion' Steven B. Smith
14. Entreating the political: politics and theology in Rousseau's social contract Matthew W. Maguire
15. Civil religion and political unity: social contract 4.8 Ryan Patrick Hanley.

Subject Areas: Political science & theory [JPA]