The Social Contract - 0 - Introduction
Introduction
Quote
I was born a citizen of a free state and a member of its sovereign body, and however weak may be the influence of my voice in public affairs, my right to vote of them suffices to impose on me the duty of studying them.
Notes
🔥 Jean-Jacques Rousseau was born in 1712 in Geneva.
🔥 He moved to France and first started to gain notoriety as a musician.
🔥 Then he became more famous as a writer, denouncing the modern state while comparing it with more ancient societies.
🔥 His book, The Social Contract, is a more fully fleshed out expression of his political ideas, and it was published in 1762.
🔥 It brought him some legal trouble, especially the sections on religion.
🔥 His writing was a major influence on the French Revolution, which began only about 10 years after his death.
🔥 I'm reading the Oxford World's Classics version translated by Christopher Betts and published in 1994.