This rich collection will introduce students of philosophy and politics to the contemporary critical literature on the classical social contract political thinkers Thomas Hobbes (1599-1697), John Locke (1632-1704), and Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778). A dozen essays and book excerpts have been selected to guide students through the texts and to introduce them to current scholarly controversies surrounding the contractarian political theories of these three thinkers.

Part 1 Introduction Part 2 Acknowledgments Chapter 3 1 Hobbes' War of All against All Chapter 4 2 Hobbes' "Mortal God": Is There a Fallacy in Hobbes' Theory of Sovereignty? Chapter 5 3 The Failure of Hobbes' Social Contract Argument Chapter 6 4 Hobbes' Social Contract Chapter 7 5 Why Ought One Obey God? Reflections on Hobbes and Locke Chapter 8 6 Locke's State of Nature Chapter 9 7 On the Edge of Anarchy: Locke Chapter 10 8 Structure Chapter 11 9 A Possible Explanation of Rousseau's General Will Chapter 12 10 Reflections on Rousseau: Autonomy and Democracy, Chapter 13 11 Rousseau, Chapter 14 12 The General Will Part 15 Bibliography Part 16 Authors Part 17 Index

Christopher W. Morris is professor of philosophy at Bowling Green State University in and the author of An Essay on the Modern State (Cambridge University Press).