  Within the abstract framework of dynamical system theory we describe a
general approach to the Transient (or Evans-Searles) and Steady State (or
Gallavotti-Cohen) Fluctuation Theorems of non-equilibrium statistical
mechanics. Our main objective is to display the minimal, model independent
mathematical structure at work behind fluctuation theorems. Besides its
conceptual simplicity, another advantage of our approach is its natural
extension to quantum statistical mechanics which will be presented in a
companion paper. We shall discuss several examples including thermostated
systems, open Hamiltonian systems, chaotic homeomorphisms of compact metric
spaces and Anosov diffeomorphisms.
