Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Jean-Jacques Rousseau was the Swiss-born philosopher and writer whose ideas about natural human goodness, social contract, and the education of children helped ignite both the French Revolution and the Romantic movement, making him one of the most influential and controversial thinkers in European history. Born in Geneva in 1712, he was largely self-educated and arrived in Paris as an adult to make his fortune. His Discourse on Inequality, The Social Contract, and the novel-treatise Émile — all published between 1755 and 1762 — were burned, banned, and debated across Europe. He believed that civilization corrupts a naturally good human being and that legitimate political authority rests on genuine popular consent. Man is born free and everywhere he is in chains; I may be no better than other people, but at least I am different — the two poles of his philosophy, social critique and fierce individuality, in two sentences.

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