THE SOCIAL CONTRACT is one of three most influential treatises ever written (the
others being PLato's REPUBLIC and Marx's DAS KAPITAL) Of the three it is safe to
say that only THE SOCIAL CONTRACT is much read in its entirety today, and it
continues to exert a direct influence on contemporary political thought. In it -
and in the three DISCOURCES here printed with it - Rousseau discusses the nature
of liberty, human rights and the state; the origins of private property the
function of education; the economic structure of society; and the relationship
between individuals and the community. This revised re-issue of G. D. H.