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Jean Jacque Rousseau

Jean Jacque Rousseau was a legendary enigmatic philosopher born in Geneva on the 28th

of June 1712. His mother had died during his birth, and he was brought up by his father, who

later left him to take care of himself in 1722 (Cranston 13). Rousseau, therefore, had no formal

education except for his personal readings on Plutarch Lives and some Calvinist sermons

collections during the early years of his life. In spite of his lack of formal education and

challenging life, Rousseau grew to become a great philosopher, composer and writer and was

among the most famous and celebrated personalities in the 18th century.

Rousseau’s work in philosophy was quite striking. Unlike the utopian thinkers, his

philosophy was a combination of realistic and idealistic elements that consistently appeared to

open the possibility of bettering the world. Through his theory of natural human development,

Rousseau proposed that uncorrupted morals can prevail the state of nature and that nothing could

compare to the gentleness of man in his primitive state. This stage, which he often regarded as

the savages, was according to him the best stage in human development. He held that when

man’s instinct and emotion was not distorted by the unnatural conditions of civilization, man was

at his best, and it was an avenue to a good life.

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Rousseau also believed that humans underwent different physiological and physical

stages before they finally matured. In Emile, he divided the human development into five stages.

They included the infancy stage, the age of nature, pre-adolescence stage, puberty, and adulthood

(Ornstein, Levine, Gutek & Vocke 92). According to Rousseau, the infancy stage starts from the

time of birth and ends with the weaning of the child. During this stage, the child should be given

more real liberty but less power so that the child has develops the habit of doing things by him

and demand less from others. The stage of nature requires that the child receives no moral

instruction or verbal learning. During this stage according to Rousseau, the child is meant to

develop his or her physical qualities and involves the cultivation of the child’s five senses in

turn. Rousseau describes the third stage as the noble savage. During this stage, there is a more

rapid increase in the child's strength than his needs and the urge to activity takes a mental form.

The reasoning for the child is well developed by the fourth stage and by this time, he can handle

the adolescence emotions as well as the moral issues and religion effectively. The child may still

want to hold back the societal pressures which he is subjected to, but most importantly, the child

needs gradual entry into the community life during this stage. The last stage, adulthood, entails

the preparation of an individual against the society’s corrupting influences. Rousseau believes

that the individual is now ready to learn about aspects of love and marital duties and is now

ready to return o the society (Ornstein, Levine, Gutek & Vocke 92-93).

His influence in political philosophy is viewed as an important contribution to politics.

He advocated for freedom and to protect it; Rousseau suggested that political institutions be

constructed to allow peaceful coexistence of free and equal citizens in the society. In his political

theory, he held on to the view that institutions of law could also enhance effectiveness in the

division of labor as well as private property as the society advanced. He proposed the social

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contract which could facilitate the joining of individuals into a civil society to preserve

themselves as free people (Rousseau, & Cole 20)

Unlike other philosophers who were mostly radicalized and never embraced religion,

Rousseau was a believer of religion, and he affirmed its necessity. Initially, he was a Roman

Catholic convert during his early life, but he later returned to Calvinism, during a period that he

went through moral reform, though he never swayed from religion after that (Strong 125).

Though some of his assertions like the social contract attracted criticism from both Calvinist

Geneva and Catholic Paris, Rousseau always maintained his stand on religion, an attribute that

stood out in him as a philosopher.

Rousseau prominently influenced many people, among which included individuals who

contributed to the revolution in France and the shaping of the United States of America.

Robespierre and Saint-Just, who obliged to do completely away with superfluities and corruption

during the reign of Terror, were inspired by Rousseau (Grace, & Kelly 230). They also borrowed

the idea of rectifying deficiencies in individuals by upholding the common good from

Rousseau’s school of thought. The founding fathers of the United States of America like Thomas

Jefferson shared Rousseau’s beliefs as the idea of all men being equal; additionally, some

concepts in the American constitution like the general welfare has similarities with Rousseau’s

general will. This highlights the importance and influence Rousseau had on America.

Rousseau, however, faced some criticism about his work. Among his critics was Hannah

Arendt, who is regarded one of his strongest critics. She blamed Rousseau for his notion of

sovereignty that advocated for the establishment of a single and unified will that was based on

the suppression of opinion instead of the public passion, which contributed to the excesses of the

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French revolution. He was also criticized for his association with nationalism by Arthur Melzer,

who pointed out that Rousseau’s theories, contained the seeds of nationalism. Additionally, he

was criticized for advocating for nationalism which gave to rise to the totalitarian regimes in the

mid 20th century. In spite of these criticisms, Rousseau is considered as a legendary philosopher

because of his contributions and influence on matters concerning religion, politics, philosophy as

well as his contributions as a music composer, writer, and theorist.

During his final years, Rousseau was still tireless in his work, and he composed one of

his finest works in 1777, “Reveries of a Solitary Walker” (Damrosch 481). His physical prowess

also impressed Hume, who highly rated him and at some point, he admitted that Rousseau was

one of the most robust men that he had ever met, which highlights not only his strength but also

his contribution to various aspects of life. One thing for sure was that his health was on a decline

and in his final years, he was diagnosed with a urinary disease. In 1776, he was also knocked

down by a nobleman’s dog when he was walking through a narrow street in Paris (Damrosch

485). After this incident, Rousseau suffered a concussion as well as a neurological damage.

Since then, his health started to decline, and he began to experience seizures since then. On July

2, 1778, Rousseau died of cerebral bleeding which had resulted in apoplectic stroke as he was

about to teach music to Girardin's daughter, with whose family he had taken a hearty meal with,

the previous night. His death came as a shock to many and some theories were formulated about

his death including the notion that he had committed suicide and some gossips that he was insane

when he died. It is however believed that his accidental falls including the incident involving the

Great Dane had contributed to the stroke (Damrosch 489).

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Works Cited

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques, and G D. H. Cole. On the Social Contract. New York: Dover

Publications, 2003. Print.

Strong, Tracy B. Jean Jacques Rousseau: The Politics of the Ordinary. Lanham, Md: Rowman

& Littlefield Publishers, 2002. Print.

Damrosch, Leopold. Jean-jacques Rousseau: Restless Genius. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co,

2007. Print.

Grace, Eve, and Christopher Kelly. The Challenge of Rousseau. , 2013. Print.

Ornstein, Allan, et al. Foundations of education. Nelson Education, 2015.

Cranston, Maurice. Jean-jacques: The Early Life and Work of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, 1712-

1754. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991. Print.

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