Jean-Jacques Rousseau
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Jean-Jacques Rousseau, (June 28, 1712 – July 2, 1778) was a Genevan philosopher of the Enlightenment best-known for his Confessions and for asserting that man is essentially good but society makes him corrupt.
Legacy
His political ideas influenced the French Revolution, the development of socialist theory, and the growth of nationalism. Rousseau also made important contributions to music both as a theorist and as a composer. With his Confessions and other writings, he practically invented modern autobiography and encouraged a new focus on the building of subjectivity that would bear fruit in the work of thinkers as diverse as Hegel and Freud. His novel Julie, ou la nouvelle Héloïse was one of the best-selling fictional works of the eighteenth century and was important to the development of romanticism. The phrase Rousseau is still famous for is "Back to nature!".
See
Major works
- Dissertation sur la musique moderne, 1736
- Discourse on the Arts and Sciences (Discours sur les sciences et les arts), 1750
- Narcissus, or The Self-Admirer: A Comedy, 1752
- Le Devin du Village: an opera, 1752
- Discourse on the Origin and Basis of Inequality Among Men (Discours sur l'origine et les fondements de l'inégalité parmi les hommes), 1754
- Discourse on Political Economy, 1755
- Letter to M. D'Alembert on Spectacles, 1758 (Lettre à d'Alembert sur les spectacles)
- Julie, or the New Heloise (Julie, ou la nouvelle Héloïse), 1761
- Émile: or, on Education (Émile ou de l'éducation), 1762
- The Creed of a Savoyard Priest, 1762 (in Émile)
- The Social Contract, or Principles of Political Right (Du contrat social), 1762
- Four Letters to M. de Malesherbes, 1762
- Pygmalion: a Lyric Scene, 1762
- Letters Written from the Mountain, 1764 (Lettres de la montagne)
- Confessions of Jean-Jacques Rousseau (Les Confessions), 1770, published 1782
- Constitutional Project for Corsica, 1772
- Considerations on the Government of Poland, 1772
- Essay on the Origin of Languages, published 1781 (Essai sur l'origine des langues)
- Reveries of a Solitary Walker, incomplete, published 1782 (Rêveries du promeneur solitaire)
- Dialogues: Rousseau Judge of Jean-Jacques, published 1782