Publisher Description
This presentation discusses two political documents that have changed history: Karl Marx's Communist Manifesto and Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Social Contract.
In the Communist Manifesto, Marx argues that history flows inevitably toward a social revolution, which will result in a society without economic classes, private property, or a state. This presentation examines Marx's theory and goals and the influence of other philosophers on his work.
Rousseau believed that people secure their liberty by entering into an implied contract with government. His controversial explanation of social authority in Social Contract fanned the flames of the French Revolution. This presentation explores the implications of his concept of social order for individual freedom and social good.
The Giants of Political Thought Series offers an easy and entertaining way to broaden your mind and your awareness of great ideas.
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About the Authors
Ralph Raico is professor emeritus of European history at Buffalo State College in New York. He received his doctorate from the University of Chicago, Committee on Social Thought, where the head of his dissertation committee was Friedrich Hayek. He has written numerous articles and essays in scholarly journals and is the translator of Ludwig von Mises’ Liberalism and of essays contained in Hayek’s Collected Works. Dr. Raico was editor of the New Individualist Review and senior editor of Inquiry. He has lectured throughout Europe, the United States, and Canada and is a senior faculty member at the Ludwig von Mises Institute.
Joseph Stromberg is a research fellow at the Independent Institute and has held the JoAnn B. Rothbard chair in history at the Ludwig von Mises Institute. He received his BA and MA from Florida Atlantic University, and his further graduate work was completed at the University of Florida.
About the Narrators
George H. Smith is an author, editor, educator, and speaker. His first book was the very popular Atheism: The Case against God. Smith began teaching in the 1970s and for nearly twenty years spent his summers instructing university students in political philosophy and American political and intellectual history at seminars sponsored by the Cato Institute and the Institute for Humane Studies. His many articles and book reviews have appeared in a wide range of publications, including Reason, the New York Times, and the Journal of Libertarian Studies.
Paul Meier, MD, is a psychiatrist
at the Meier Clinics in Richardson, Texas, and the author of more than
eighty books, including Love Is a Choice, Happiness Is a Choice, Blue
Genes, and Everything I Learned Since I Knew It All. He has appeared
on hundreds of radio and television programs over the past thirty years,
including shows with Oprah, Tom Snyder, Norman Vincent Peale, Joyce Meyer,
Sheila Walsh, Paula White, and many others. He is also the founder of the
national chain of counseling clinics called the Meier Clinics, a nonprofit
corporation.
John Lutz is the author of more than forty novels and two hundred short stories and is a past president of Mystery Writers of America and Private Eye Writers of America. He is the recipient of the Edgar Award and the Shamus Award. His novel SWF Seeks Same was made into the movie Single White Female, starring Bridget Fonda. He is the author of two private eye series and divides his time between homes in St. Louis, Missouri, and Sarasota, Florida.