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On the Social Contract  By  cover art

On the Social Contract

By: Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Narrated by: Erik Sandval
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Publisher's summary

"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.

Public Domain (P)2009 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

What listeners say about On the Social Contract

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Classic. Must read.

Adding this to our family canon of books to read. Required reading for citizens of free societies.

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4 people found this helpful

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  • 09-09-20

great though provoking reas

really makes you asses what your relationship to government is and what your responsibility is to maintain your personal sovereignty.
I do not agree with some of his arguments, but clearly we have hindsight in history he could not foresee.
great read

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3 people found this helpful

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A solid foundation political science

It's easy to see why the founding fathers or inspired by this book. It provides a solid foundation on the rights and responsibilities of the citizens of a state.

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3 people found this helpful

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Practically unlistenable performance

Even the copyright message was narrated with more expressiveness than the rest of the book.

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2 people found this helpful

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Old and Tired

He has a few good points, but quite a bit of unsubstantiated and irrational claims.

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1 person found this helpful

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Thank you sir!

Sounds naive in 21st century, but if you factor in when it was written! It's a monumental work form the first letter to the end.

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great book

the book was insightful and answers many questions swirling in my mind
yet the narrator was quite boring

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A classic

What did you love best about On the Social Contract?

Interesting to understand the philosophy.

Did Erik Sandval do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

A pretty dry read on the narrators part but clearly understood.

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Skip. Read Hobbes and Locke instead.

This guy is supposed to be one of the main three social contract theorists alongside Locke and Hobbes. But, now I understand why nobody can seem to explain his viewpoints in online lectures. They’re complete nonsense. Circular logic the whole way through.

His idea that everybody should belong to everybody else was played out to it’s fullest in a Brave New World by Alexander Huxley. What a horrible idea. Feels like another bedrock of socialism.

One good line, “man is born free and yet everywhere he is in chains” Amen to that brother.

*caveat I did not read the whole book. Maybe like 5 chapters? That was enough for me to understand the thesis, which is pure bullshit. Go read Hobbes and then Locke. Much better source material.

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Neat alternative to reading

The audio book allowed me to get through The Social Contract. I zoned out while reading because the content is good but dry, so listening happily took it off my list of works to get through.

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