2. 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.
3. 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)
4. Philosophical Ideas
Did 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.
5. 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 = education
o 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
6. 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 life
o Felt like he maliciously attacked, particularly by Voltaire
7. 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.
8. Beliefs in Government (cont.)
Hated political and economic oppression
Supported revolt
Influenced thinkers for more than 200 years
o may have influenced the writers of our Constitution.
Was influenced by the modern natural law
tradition
o Which Attempted to answer the challenge of
skepticism through a systematic approach to human
nature that, like Hobbes, emphasized self-interest
