LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
built 241 days ago
One of the most enigmatic thinkers of the 18th century, Jean-Jacques Rousseau's colourful life and consistent defiance of social conventions are reflected in his political writings. He was born in Geneva in 1712. His mother died in childbirth and his father, a watchmaker, left his son to the care of relatives when he was exiled from the city for brawling in 1722. As a young man Rousseau was forced to take several menial positions, but through self-education and the patronage of wealthy women he established himself as a talented musician and intellectual. In Paris in 1645 Rousseau first made the acquaintance of Diderot and the Paris encyclopedistes. Thus began his uneasy relationship with enlightenment thought.
Source:
Jean-Jacques Rousseau is one of the most influential thinkers during the Enlightenment in eighteenth century Europe. His first major philosophical work, A Discourse on the Sciences and Arts, was the winning response to an essay contest conducted by the Academy of Dijon in 1750. In this work, Rousseau argues that the progression of the sciences and arts has caused the corruption of virtue and morality. This discourse won Rousseau fame and recognition, and it laid much of the philosophical groundwork for a second, longer work, The Discourse on the Origin of Inequality. The second discourse did not win the Academy’s prize, but like the first, it was widely read and further solidified Rousseau’s place as a significant intellectual figure. The central claim of the work is that human beings are basically good by nature, but were corrupted by the complex historical events that resulted in present day civil society.
Source:
Mostly self-educated in Switzerland, Jean-Jacques Rousseau ended up in Paris, France in the 1740s and became acquainted with Voltaire and Denis Diderot. Rousseau published Discourse on the Origin and Foundations of Inequality in 1754, arguing that the natural, moral state of man had been corrupted by society. In 1762 he published The Social Contract (with it's famous opening line, "Man is born free; and everywhere he is in chains."), and Emile, a novel that illustrated his ideas in education. After settling in England in 1766, Rousseau wrote his Confessions, now considered to be a forerunner of the modern autobiography. He returned to France in 1770 and eventually died in Ermenonville, plagued by fears of persecution. Rousseau's political philosophy had a profound influence on the evolution of the liberal democratic state in Europe and America during the 18th century.
Source:
Born in the city of Geneva, Switzerland, Jean-Jacques Rousseau lost his mother hours after his birth and was abandoned by his father at the age of seven. After many years of failed apprenticeships and employments, Rousseau rose to intellectual prominence in 1750 upon winning first prize in an essay contest in France. This marked the beginning of a long period of scholarly production in which he authored a number of philosophical treatises that addressed the problem of individual and collective freedom–and how education might help to resolve the dilemma by producing enlightened citizens who would uphold an ideal state. Forced to flee France and Switzerland as a result of the social criticisms inherent in his work, Rousseau found temporary refuge in England and then surreptitiously returned to France where he remained until his death.
Source:
Jean-Jacques Rousseau was born to Isaac Rousseau and Suzanne Bernard in Geneva on June 28, 1712. His mother died only a few days later on July 7, and his only sibling, an older brother, ran away from home when Rousseau was still a child. Rousseau was therefore brought up mainly by his father, a clockmaker, with whom at an early age he read ancient Greek and Roman literature such as the Lives of Plutarch. His father got into a quarrel with a French captain, and at the risk of imprisonment, left Geneva for the rest of his life. Rousseau stayed behind and was cared for by an uncle who sent him along with his cousin to study in the village of Bosey. In 1725, Rousseau was apprenticed to an engraver and began to learn the trade.
Source:
Jean-Jacques Rousseau was born in Geneva on 28 June 1712. His mother died when he was young, and Rousseau was initially brought up by his father, a watchmaker. He left Geneva aged 16 and travelled around France, where he met his benefactress, the Baronnesse de Warens, who gave him the education that turned him into a philosopher.M
Source:
MORE ABOUT
Jean-Jacques Rousseau