Social contract theory books
Social contract theory books to start from. Open one to see books like it, or tell BookSense what you loved for four picks made for you.
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New to the genre? These 5 are the books to read first.
Leviathan
Thomas HobbesThe founding statement of the idea: without a common power people live in a state of war, so they accept an absolute sovereign for security.
Two Treatises of Government
John LockeGrounds government in natural rights and consent, and defends the right of the people to resist a government that breaks its trust.
The Social Contract
Jean-Jacques RousseauArgues that legitimate authority rests on the general will of the whole people, and that citizens are free when they obey laws they give to themselves.
A Theory of Justice
John RawlsUses a hypothetical choice made behind a 'veil of ignorance' to derive principles of justice, and is the main modern restatement of the tradition.
Anarchy, State, and Utopia
Robert NozickA libertarian challenge to contract-based justifications of the state, arguing that a minimal state can arise from individual rights without redistribution.
Chosen and described with AI from our notes on the genre.
More social contract theory books
- Morals by Agreement
Morals by AgreementDavid P. Gauthier - The Sexual Contract
The Sexual ContractCarole Pateman - The Racial Contract
The Racial ContractCharles W. Mills - What We Owe to Each Other
What We Owe to Each OtherThomas Scanlon - Political Liberalism
Political LiberalismJohn Rawls - The Calculus of ConsentThe Calculus of ConsentJames M. Buchanan and Gordon Tullock
- The Limits of Liberty
The Limits of LibertyJames M. Buchanan - The Social Contract from Hobbes to Rawls
The Social Contract from Hobbes to RawlsDavid Boucher - The Social Contract Theorists
The Social Contract TheoristsChristopher W. Morris - The Communist Manifesto
The Communist ManifestoKarl Marx1848 - The social contract, & Discourses
The social contract, & DiscoursesJean-Jacques Rousseau1913 - The Problem of Political Authority
The Problem of Political AuthorityMichael Huemer2013