Jean-Jacques Rousseau

This edition includes a modern introduction and a list of suggested further reading. Jean-Jacques Rousseau's thesis that children are naturally good at birth violated the traditional Christian doctrine of origin sin. His argument that education should arise from children's natural instincts and impulses rather than trying to civilize and socialize them challenged traditional schooling. Rousseau's defenders see him as a pioneering thinker whose revolutionary...

Genevan philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau was one of the most influential figures of the 18th century. His political philosophy has been pointed to as a major contributing factor in causing the French Revolution. Social and economic inequality has been a pervasive element of human existence for the entirety of recorded history. The causes of this inequality are principal to the discussion of political, legal, and economic theory. Rousseau acknowledges...

This edition includes a modern introduction and a list of suggested further reading. Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Confessions is the first modern autobiography, and arguably the most influential autobiography ever written. What we think of as the "self," our self-sufficient identity, finds its roots in the Confessions. Rousseau's great autobiography speaks to us with a voice that is as relevant today as it was revolutionary and unsettling in the eighteenth...

The aim of the Discourse is to examine the foundations of inequality among men, and to determine whether this inequality is authorised by natural law. Rousseau attempts to demonstrate that modern moral inequality, which is created by an agreement between men, is unnatural and unrelated to the true nature of man.

"Man was born free, but everywhere he is in chains." Thus begins Rousseau's influential 1762 work, in which he argues that all government is fundamentally flawed and that modern society is based on a system of inequality. The philosopher posits that a good government can justify its need for individual compromises and that promoting social settings in which people transcend their immediate appetites and desires leads to the development of self-governing,...

Originally published in 1762, "The Social Contract" is Jean-Jacques Rousseau's treatise on how to best organize politics in the face of commercial society. Rousseau writes, "Man is born free; and everywhere he is in chains." This statement exemplifies the main dilemma of government, that despite mankind having an inherent natural right to freedom, modern, especially autocratic, governments had gone too far in restricting it. The question which Rousseau...

Genevan philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau was one of the most influential figures of the 18th century. His political philosophy has been pointed to as a major contributing factor in causing the French Revolution. Social and economic inequality has been a pervasive element of human existence for the entirety of recorded history. The causes of this inequality are principal to the discussion of political, legal, and economic theory. Rousseau acknowledges...

Extrait: "Je veux chercher si, dans l'ordre civil, il peut y avoir quelque règles d'administration légitime et sûre en prenant les hommes tels qu'ils sont et les lois telles qu'elles peuvent être."

Extrait: "Il faut vous fuir, mademoiselle, je le sens bien: j'aurais dû beaucoup moins attendre; ou plutt il fallait ne vous voir jamais. Mais que faire aujourd'hui? Comment m'y prendre? Vous m'avez promis de l'amitié; voyez mes perplexités, et conseillez-moi. Vous savez que je ne suis entré dans votre maison que sur l'invitation de madame votre mère."

Jean-Jacques Rousseau writes, "Man is born free; and everywhere he is in chains." This statement exemplifies the main idea behind "The Social Contract", in other words that man is essentially free if it weren't for the oppression of political organizations such as government. Rousseau goes on to lay forth the principles that he deems most important for achieving political right amongst people. Contained within this volume are also two discourses by...