Download Jean Jacques Rousseau

Jean Jacques
Rousseau
By : Gurluv Singh, Andrew DeLeon, Fay
Lin, Sophie Harris, and Marcela
Erickson
Early Life
➢ Son of a poor Swiss watchmaker
Annecy, France
➢ Mother died a few days after his
birth, brother ran away
➢ Father left after being
threatened with imprisonment
➢ Fled to Annecy, France and fell
in love with Louise de Warens
Example of a wood engraving
Rousseau’s father fled because he was
threatened with imprisonment
Main Beliefs
Rousseau
❖ Believed that civilization corrupted people’s natural goodness
➢ Said that “Man is born free ,and everywhere he is in chains”
➢ Means we are born free, yet we are tied down by society
❖ Wrote that the Social Contract was an agreement between society and its
government
➢ To Rousseau was an agreement between free people to create a society
and government.
Main Beliefs Pt 2
❖ Believed the only good government was one that was freely formed by the
people and guided by the “general will” of society-- a direct democracy.
➢ Anyone under this government agrees to give up freedom for the
common good
❖ Believed all people were equal and nobility should be abolished
➢ Inspired ideas of the French revolution
❖ Argued that legitimate government comes from the consent of the governed
Published Works
The Social Contract
Published: 1750
Wrote to express Rousseau’s belief in a government of free citizens
Influences and Legacies
❖ Rousseau’s ideas greatly inspired many leaders of the French Revolution
like Maximilien Robespierre
❖ Rousseau argued that legitimate government came from the consent of the
governed
❖ He also believed that all people were equal and thought that titles of
nobility should be abolished
The French
Revolution
Not so Fun Facts & Quotes
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As a teenager, Rousseau supported himself as a servant, tutor and secretary in
Italy and France while living on and off with de Warens.
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He was a composer and music theorist
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Became a lifelong fan of italian opera while working as a secretary
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He abandoned his son and the guilt haunted him for life because he was just
repeating what his father had done to him was 10 ahahaha how fun:)
Works Cited
Delaney, James J. "Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712—1778)." Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Internet
Encyclopedia of Philosophy, n.d. Web. 24 Oct. 2016.