Publisher's Synopsis
Rousseau is considered to be at once the most modern political thinker of the 18th century and the most ancient in his allegiance to classical republicanism. These essays address the place of liberty in his moral and political philosophy, and the origins, meaning, strength, weakness and significance of his argument.;The essays explore how Rousseau's doctrine of popular sovereignty and the general will inspired Jacobin admirers to worship his philosophy, to which his critics also ascribed the French Revolution's excesses. The tensions in his thought between natural independence and political cohesion, or between liberty and sovereignty, still inform some of the major ideological conflicts of the contemporary world.;Contributors to this collection are leading Rousseau scholars and political theorists from England and America.
