Portrait of Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

1712 – 1778

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) was a Swiss philosopher and novelist who was an important figure in the Enlightenment. In his novels and discourses he claimed that civilization had weakened the natural liberty of mankind and that a truly free society would be the expression of the “general will” of all members of that society. He influenced later thinkers on both ends of the political spectrum.

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Rousseau featured as the June 2021 OLL Birthday. Read it here.

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