Jean Jacques Rousseau

By: Cammie Smith, Annie Fox, Allegra Craver, and Lizzy Alban

Biography❖ Birth: Geneva, Switzerland June 28, 1712❖ Upbringing:

➢ Isaac Rousseau- clockmaker➢ Suzanne Bernard- died July 7th, 1712➢ Raised by father

■ Isaac left Geneva➢ Raised by Uncle

■ Sent to study in Bosey with cousin➢ 1725: apprenticeship as an engraver➢ 1728: left Geneva and went to France

❖ Post-Adolescence and Adulthood➢ 1728: became secretary to Madame Louise de

Warens■ Helped develop his taste for music

➢ 1732: worked as a music teacher in Chambery, France

➢ 1740: worked as a tutor➢ 1742: moved to Paris, became a musician and

composer

Biography (Cont.)

➢ 1742: met and befriended Denis Diderot➢ 1745: moved back to Paris (after living in

Venice for two years)■ Became a music teacher

➢ 1768: married Therese Levasseur■ Had five children with her

❖ Death: Ermenonville, France July 2, 1778

Biography (Cont.)

❖ Education:➢ Little formal education

■ Father taught him to read❖ Famous Works:

➢ 1750: Discourse on the Arts and Sciences

➢ 1761: Julie or the New Heloise➢ 1762: The Social Contract➢ 1762: Emile, or on Education

Biography (Cont.)

❖ State of nature➢ Intellectual exercise, meant to observe human nature➢ Trying to imagine man without society, or culture➢ Humans in their most natural state

❖ Rousseau’s Beliefs➢ Human nature is similar to animal nature➢ Two main things set man apart from animals

1) Free Agency -“Perfectibility”: natural openness to change

-Human nature has always changed over time and will always change

2) Compassion-Man is the sensitive creature therefore they are naturally good

Rousseau’s State of Nature

According to Rousseau society causes man to lose their natural goodness. The civilized man is greedy and calculating.

Why?1) Property

-Market based economy created inequalities amongst human beings *These inequalities cause man to be greedy and calculating-Property is the basis of society therefore society is what causes man to

lose it’s natural goodness2) Inequality

-The true cause of all our discontent-Amour propre: inspires man to value him/her self more than others*Pride, vanity, contempt, shame envy*Born out of comparison, and awareness of the difference

How did society make man “bad”?

Representative VS. Direct Democracy

Representative DirectCitizens vote for a small group of people to represent them in government

ALL citizens are involved in making governmental decisions

Citizens have to trust the group to make the right decisions

Everyone gets a direct say

Example: British government today. Citizens elect members of Parliament to make decisions

Example: New England town meetings. Anyone can come and have their voice be heard in the decision making process

❖ Main ideas➢ All people must enter a “social contract”

■ Forfeit some rights for the community■ “Every man having been born free and master of

himself, no one else may under any pretext whatever subject him without his consent. To assert that the son of a slave is born a slave is to assert that he is not born a man.”

■ Gov. acts for the best of the GENERAL WILL■ If Gov. does not protect and act in best interest

of the people, the people have the right to overthrow and replace that gov.

The Social Contract (1762)

❖ English gov. not acting in the best interest of the colonists they should have the right to overthrow them and replace it with their own.

❖ Idea of General Will = democracy

Influence on America’s Separation from England