Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Josh, Shannon, Carli, Joel, and Amanda

Biography

Born in Geneva on June 28, 1712

Suzanne Bernard, his mother, died a week after he was born

Brother ran away from home Isaac Rousseau, his father, left

Geneva to avoid imprisonment Was raised by his uncle after

his father left Was sent to study in the

village of Bosey.

Biography (cont.) Apprenticed to an engraver 1725; left and went to Annecy

due to his master being violent 1742; went to Paris to become a

composer and musician Wrote the books –

o Discourse on the Origin and Foundations of Inequality(1754)

o Lettre sur les spectacles(1758)o La Nouvelle Héloise(1761)o The Social Contract(1762)o Émile(1762)o Réveries(1782)

Philosophical IdeasDid this political thinker think people could govern themselves?

Believed people could govern themselves

Sees freedom and liberty not to do whatever you want but the opportunity to do the right thing. o This includes obedience to

authority, an authority agreed on by the citizens not a forced authority.

Philosophical Ideas (cont.)

Is humankind basically good or bad? Children naturally good, innocent. He writes “Make the citizen good by

training”, “and everything else will follow”.

Training = educationo Education should be personalized

depending on the stage, nature of the individual.

Develop ideas for your own based on experience, not be taught other peoples ideas

Humans are by nature good - and it is society's institutions that corrupt them

Philosophical Ideas (cont.)What are the underlining ideas behind Rousseau’s thinking?

Was isolated from other children No formal education Draws influence from his relationships Thérèse Lavasseur:

o Companion to Rousseau (believed she had a ‘pure heart’)o Had five children but gave them up to an orphanage because they felt

they would be better off Found living amongst people difficult

o Preferring solitary lifeo Felt like he maliciously attacked, particularly by Voltaire

Beliefs in Government

Believed that authority lies with the people. In The Social Contract written in 1762 Rousseau

states: o Man is born free. o Controls by a freely formed government are good. o Consent to a form of governments means that the

individual gives up self-interest in favor of the common good.

o When government is by the consent of the governed the people retain their rights.

Beliefs in Government (cont.)

Hated political and economic oppression Supported revoltInfluenced thinkers for more than 200 years

o may have influenced the writers of our Constitution.Was influenced by the modern natural law

traditiono Which Attempted to answer the challenge of

skepticism through a systematic approach to human nature that, like Hobbes, emphasized self-interest

Jean-JacquesRousseau’s

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