Read by: Heather Long, John Kapansa, Roy McMillan
Language: English
Length: 13 hours and 20 minutes
Publisher: Penguin Audio
Release date: 2022-12-15
Brought to you by Penguin.
'Man was born free, and everywhere he is in chains.'
These are the famous opening words of a treatise that has stirred vigorous debate ever since its first publication in 1762. Rejecting the view that anyone has a natural right to wield authority over others, Rousseau argues instead for a pact, or 'social contract', that should exist between all the citizens of a state and that should be the source of sovereign power. From this fundamental premise, he goes on to consider issues of liberty and law, freedom and justice, arriving at a view of society that has seemed to some a blueprint for totalitarianism, to others a declaration of democratic principles.