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Audiobooks by Jean Jacques Rousseau
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Jean-Jacques Rousseau initiated the modern genre of autobiography, vastly influenced the development of the Enlightenment through his political philosophy, and helped develop modern educational thought, although his book on the question outraged the French parliament so much that an arrest order was issued against him. We have selected for you 100 of his most interesting quotes. They come from essential works like his Discourse on Inequality or the Social Contract, which shaped modern political and social thought; Julie or the New Heloise, which helped the development of romanticism in fiction; or the Confessions, one of the boldest and most honest autobiographical works ever written.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau initiated the modern genre of autobiography, vastly influenced the development of the Enlightenment through his political philosophy, and helped develop modern educational thought, although his book on the question outraged the French parliament so much that an arrest order was issued against him. We have selected for you 100 of his most interesting quotes. They come from essential works like his Discourse on Inequality or the Social Contract, which shaped modern political and social thought; Julie or the New Heloise, which helped the development of romanticism in fiction; or the Confessions, one of the boldest and most honest autobiographical works ever written.
Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains. In The Social Contract, Rousseau explores the concept of freedom and the political structures that may enable people to acquire it. He argues that the sovereign power of a state lies not in any one ruler, but in the will of the general population. Rousseau argues that the ideal state would be a direct democracy where executive decision-making is carried out by citizens who meet in assembly, as they would in the ancient city-state of Athens. The thoughts contained in the work were instrumental to the advent of the American Revolution and became sacred to those leading the French Revolution. With traces of Aristotle and echoes of Plato's Republic, The Social Contract is an exhilarating look at society and the definition of democracy. New translation by Ian Johnston.
Discourse on the Origin and Basis of Inequality Among Men was written in response to a competition run by the Academy of Dijon answering the prompt: What is the origin of inequality among men, and whether such inequality is authorized by natural law? Rousseau puts forth the concept of two types of inequity: natural/physical and moral/political. He focuses on moral inequality and its link to power and wealth. He also covers the areas of self-love, compassion for others, and free-agency, as well as their negative impact in the creation of civil society. In part two of the discourse, Rousseau follows the development of such qualities in mankind from savage man to the modern man.
Dr. Johnson may have been correct in saying that "Rousseau was a very bad man," but none can argue that his ideas are among the most influential in all of world history. It was Rousseau, the father of the romantic movement, who was responsible for introducing at least two modern day thoughts that pervade academia: (1) free expression of the creative spirit is more important than strict adhesion to formal rules and traditional procedures, and (2) man is innately good but is corrupted by society and civilization.
The Confessions is Rousseau's landmark autobiography. Both brilliant and flawed, it is nonetheless beautifully written and remains one of the most moving human documents in all of literature. In this work, Rousseau "frankly and sincerely" settles accounts with himself in an effort to project his "true" image to the world. In so doing he reveals the details of a man who paid little regard to accepted morality and social conventions.
Translated by J. M. Cohen
"Davidson's articulate and lightly vocalized rendering is an invaluable help to the listener...This audio may be savored over time, and is well worth the effort. Davidson's cultured, ironic tone meshes well with Rousseau canny genius."-Kliatt
"Man was born free, but everywhere he is in chains." Thus begins Jean-Jacques Rousseau's influential 1762 work, On the Social Contract, a milestone of political science, and essential reading for students of history, philosophy, and social science. A progressive work, it inspired world-wide political reforms, most notably the American and French Revolutions, because it argued that monarchs were not divinely empowered to legislate. Rousseau asserts that only the people, in the form of the sovereign, have that all powerful right. On the Social Contract's appeal and influence has been wide-ranging and continuous. It has been called an encomium to democracy and, at the same time, a blueprint for totalitarianism. Individualists, collectivists, anarchists, and socialists have all taken courage from Rousseau's controversial masterpiece.
