Modern theorist of tyranny? Lessons from Rousseau's system of checks and balances *.(Jean-Jacques Rousseau)

From: Polity | Date: October 1, 2005| Author: Williams, David Lay | Copyright information

From the public burnings of the Social Contract occurring immediately following its publication, to Isaiah Berlin's condemnation of Rousseau as "the most sinister and most formidable enemy of liberty in the whole history of modern thought," Jean-Jacques Rousseau has rarely held universal favor among his commentators. The most common charge against him was, and remains, that he provided the essential philosophic tools for the modern tyrant. While this position has numerous and illustrious ad...

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