Rousseau

This book is about the key ideas of the great eighteenth-century philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Born in Geneva in 1712, he died at Ermenonville (then just outside Paris but now virtually a suburb) in 1778. Most famous nowadays for his contributions to social and political theory, with The Social Contract of 1762, an essay on the fundamental questions of social justice and political legitim- acy, being his best-known work in this area and probably overall, he also wrote a best-selling novel, Julie, or The New Héloïse (1761); a very important book on educational theory though with a wider intent, Émile, or On Education (1762); an extraordinarily original and in?uential autobiography, The Confessions, written between 1764–1770 and published posthumously; other works of self- interpretation and self-defence; essays on language and musical theory, a dictionary of music and a successful opera; works on botany, and a host of other things. This prodigious and wide- ranging output earned him an enormous if controversial reputation at the time, and many of his ideas have continued to have a powerful impact ever since.