Line #36 Creator/JeanJacquesRousseau


1	[[quoteright:268:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/maurice-quentin-de-la-tour-jean-jacques-rousseau-after-1753-n-1735929-0_7807.jpg]]
2
3	->''"No man has any natural authority over his fellow men."''
4
5	->''"We are born weak, we need strength; helpless, we need aid; foolish, we need reason. All that we lack at birth, all that we need when we come to man's estate, is the gift of education."''
6
7	->''"Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains."''
8	-->-- The opening sentence of ''The Social Contract''
9
10	Jean-Jacques Rousseau (28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a [[UsefulNotes/{{Switzerland}} Genevan]][[note]]of French descent[[/note]] [[ThePhilosopher philosopher]] and writer of French expression. His philosophy significantly influenced UsefulNotes/TheFrenchRevolution (the Jacobin Club especially, although they took a rather extreme interpretation of his works later on), UsefulNotes/TheAmericanRevolution as well as the overall development of modern political, sociological, and educational thought.
11
12	Rousseau's novel ''Émile, or On Education'' is a treatise on the education of the whole person for citizenship. His sentimental novel ''Julie, or the New Heloise'' was of importance to the development of pre-romanticism and {{romanticism}} in fiction. His autobiographical writings, the ''Confessions'', which initiated the modern autobiography, and his ''Reveries of a Solitary Walker'' exemplified the late 18th century movement known as the Age of Sensibility, and featured an increased focus on subjectivity and introspection that later characterized modern writing. ''Confessions'', published after his death, shocked contemporary readers with his admission to things that were not considered morally acceptable back then. His ''Discourse on the Origin and Basis of Inequality Among Men'' and his ''On the Social Contract'' are cornerstones in modern political and social thought.
13
14	The first to criticize Rousseau were his fellow philosophers, and above all, Creator/{{Voltaire}}. According to Jacques Barzun, Voltaire, who had felt annoyed by the essay ''On the Arts and Sciences'', was outraged by ''Discourse on the Origin and Basis of Inequality Among Men'', declaring that “Rousseau wanted us to walk on all fours” like animals and behave like savages, believing them creatures of perfection. From these inexact interpretations spring the clichés "NobleSavage" and "State of Nature". Rousseau also had to face censorship and open attacks of other philosophers in France and Geneva, to the point of risking his liberty and life and developing a persecutory delusion. His protectors helped him to get his banned books (published in Holland by Marc-Michel Rey) distributed in France disguised as other works, using false covers and title pages. Most of his works after 1770 were published posthumously. Rousseau emphasized emotion more than most of his other Enlightenment-era contemporaries, and his writings paved the way for the [[{{Romanticism}} Romantic era]].
15
16	TropeNamer for RousseauWasRight. It should be noted that he did not philosophize that humans in their natural state were actually "good", but rather humans who are without a social contract have no morality/concept of good and evil and as such, will act in their own self interest but cannot do so maliciously--that is to say, that people are naturally ''innocent'' in the same way [[ChildrenAreInnocent we understand children to be]]. Indeed, the best instances of this trope show this nuance.
17
18	Also notable for being so hypocritical that he even outdid UsefulNotes/ThomasJefferson. Rousseau loved children and wrote about education many times, and yet he sent to the orphanage all of the children he fathered out of wedlock. A fan of vegetarianism, he regularly served meat at his home and probably ate it himself. While he wrote about the natural equality of ''men'', he said that ''women'' were naturally inferior. He said that the arts had a negative effect on human progress and that they promoted laziness, but he himself composed several pieces of music. Yeah, fans of the guy are often faced with a lot of WhatTheHellHero moments. Or they do not if one considers him the villain which many of them however don't.
19
20	Rousseau is technically the man responsible for making generations of people believe UsefulNotes/MarieAntoinette said [[BeamMeUpScotty "Let them eat cake"]] in October 1789. He actually said that it was a very distant relative of hers also named Marie who said it. This woman lived a century before Marie Antoinette was alive. Rousseau also wrote the quote ''22 years before Marie Antoinette was born'' and he died 11 years before 1789. It was mostly [[UsefulNotes/TheFrenchRevolution propaganda]] [[BeamMeUpScotty that made people think she said it]].
21
22	He was also a music theorist (he wrote approximately 180 articles about music in Denis Diderot's ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encyclopédie Encyclopédie]]'') and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ld7XDELDnto composer]].
23
24	!! Major works by him:
25	* ''Dissertation sur la musique moderne'', 1736
26	* ''Discourse on the Arts and Sciences'', 1750
27	* ''Narcissus, or The Self-Admirer: A Comedy'', 1752
28	* ''Discourse on the Origin and Basis of Inequality Among Men'', 1754
29	* ''Discourse on Political Economy'', 1755
30	* ''Julie, or the New Heloise'', 1761
31	* ''Émile, or on Education'', 1762
32	* ''The Creed of a Savoyard Priest'', 1762 (in ''Émile'')
33	* ''The Social Contract, or Principles of Political Right'', 1762
34	* ''Letters Written from the Mountain'', 1764
35	* ''Considerations on the Government of Poland'', 1772
36	* ''Confessions'', 1770, published 1782. It is NOT to be confused with [[Literature/ConfessionsSaintAugustine the work of the same name]] by Saint Creator/AugustineOfHippo.
37	* ''Essay on the Origin of Languages'', published 1781
38	* ''Reveries of a Solitary Walker'', incomplete, published 1782
39	* ''Dialogues: Rousseau Judge of Jean-Jacques'', published 1782
40	----
41	!!Tropes in Rousseau's works:
42	* SimpleSolutionWontWork: From ''Confessions'': "I remembered the way out suggested by a great princess when told that the peasants had no bread: 'Well, let them eat cake'." [[ComicallyMissingThePoint The obvious problem in context being that there was no cake or any other food available, either.]]

Context Creator / JeanJacquesRousseau