The Social Contract

<p><em style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>The Social Contract</em><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> (1762) by </span><strong style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Jean-Jacques Rousseau</strong><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> argues that legitimate political authority comes not from force or divine right but from a </span><strong style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>social contract</strong><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> agreed upon by free individuals. Rousseau proposes that people unite to form a collective body politic and submit their individual wills to the </span><strong style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>general will</strong><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> which represents the common good. True freedom he claims is found in obeying laws one has prescribed for oneself through this collective will. The book explores sovereignty law and government emphasizing popular sovereignty and equality as the foundation of a just state.</span></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p>