"A most important contribution to the study of Enlightenment political and social ideas, accessible to public library patrons as well as academic readers. The author presents a very convincing claim that the doctrine of the general will emerged as a theological idea, predating by over a century Rousseau's famous political application in the Social Contract. There is a very impressive ... Read moremarshaling of literary evidence, moderated by a clear facility with the argumentative and writing styles of the major participants."
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