On June 28, 1712, Jean-Jacques Rousseau was born in Geneva. The pedagogical works and theories of this French philosopher and writer from the Enlightenment era are well-known. In philosophy, Rousseau is credited as founding romanticism. According to certain scholars, Jean-Jacques Rousseau contributed to the Great French Revolution in some way.
Early Life and Adolescence
The French-Swiss author Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s early years were not carefree. Isaac Rousseau, a watchmaker and part-time dancing instructor, took care of his kid after his mother, Suzanne Bernard, passed away during childbirth. Although the guy was devastated by his wife’s passing, he made an effort to focus his affection on Jean-Jacques’s upbringing. This ended up having a big impact on how the younger Rousseau developed.
The little boy read “Astrea” with his father and studied Plutarch’s writings from an early age. Jean-Jacques purposefully burned his hand, placing himself in the role of the legendary Scaevola. An armed onslaught soon forced the senior Rousseau to flee Geneva, while the younger Rousseau stayed with his uncle in their house.
The father had no idea that his kid would grow up to be one of the greatest philosophers of this century.
Afterwards, Jean-Jacques’s family sent him to Lambercier, a Protestant boarding school. Rousseau was moved to a notary for instruction a year later, and then to an engraver. The young man had a heavy task, but he still found time to read. Jean-Jacques learned to steal, lie, and play pretend in school.
Rousseau, who was sixteen at the time, fled Geneva and took refuge in a Turin convent. After spending nearly four months there, the future philosopher joined the aristocrats’ employ. Jean-Jacques was employed as a porter. The youngster received basic language instruction in Italian from the count’s son. But it was Madame de Warens, Rousseau’s “mother,” who taught him how to write.
In a few of his handwritten works, Jean-Jacques Rousseau includes fascinating details about his life story. This enables us to discover that the young man’s prior employment before turning to philosophy and literature was as a secretary and a home instructor.
Literature And Philosophy
First and foremost, Jean-Jacques Rousseau is a philosopher. The works of “Emile,” “The New Heloise,” and “The Social Contract” are still examined by scientists. The author attempted to elucidate the causes of social disparity in society through his writings. The first to investigate whether sovereignty might be established through a contract was Rousseau.
According to Jean-Jacques, the law is a manifestation of the collective will. Its purpose was to shield society’s delegates from the government, which was powerless to uphold the law. Property equality is feasible, but only when the collective will is expressed. According to Rousseau, citizens ought to voluntarily abide by the law in order to regulate the actions of the government. Rousseau brought public legislative initiative, limited the durations of parliamentary powers, mandated mandates, and created a referendum thanks to Jean-Jacques.
Rousseau’s seminal work “New Heloise” The novel prominently displays Richardson’s “Clarissa Harlot” comments. According to Jean-Jacques, this book was the best epistolary ever written. 163 letters are included in “New Heloise”. French society was charmed by this work since, at the time, novel writing in this style was seen as fashionable.
“New Heloise” narrates the tale of the protagonist’s tragic destiny. She is under pressure to be chaste, which keeps her from experiencing love and giving in to the seductive temptation. People adored the work, which established Rousseau as the founder of romanticism in philosophy. However, the author’s career as a writer started a little earlier. Rousseau worked in the embassy in Venice somewhere in the middle of the eighteenth century. The man soon discovers that creating is his calling.
He met someone in Paris who turned out to be crucial to the philosopher’s destiny. Paul Holbach, Denis Diderot, Etienne de Condillac, Jean d’Alembert, and Grimm were among the people Jean-Jacques met. His early comedies and tragedies were not well received, but in 1749, while incarcerated, he happened to read in a newspaper about a competition.
The author was inspired by this. Jean-Jacques became well-liked by the populace following the performance of the opera “The Village Sorcerer.” This incident happened in 1753. Village morality were attested to by the melody’s warmth and naturalness. Louis XV even performed Colette’s aria from the piece.
However, “Discourses” and “The Village Sorcerer” caused Rousseau further issues in his life. Grimm and Holbach had unfavorable opinions of Jean-Jacques’s work. Voltaire adopted an enlightened stance. The philosophers believed that Rousseau’s work’s primary issue was the plebeian democracy it included.
The autobiographical work “Confession” by Jean-Jacques has been analyzed by historians with great enthusiasm. Sincerity and truthfulness permeate every aspect of the work. Rousseau exposed his soul to the public, highlighting both his virtues and vices. The book’s quotations are still included in biographies of the author and philosopher, as well as in assessments of Rousseau’s output and personality.
Teaching
The natural man, who is unaffected by social circumstances, was one of educator Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s concerns. The philosopher thought that a child’s development is influenced by their schooling. Rousseau developed a concept for education using this principle. The primary educational concepts in Jean-Jacques’s book “Emile, or On Education” were introduced. The author claims that this treatise is the greatest and most significant. Rousseau attempted to communicate ideas of pedagogy using visual imagery.
The philosopher did not fit the system of education and upbringing. The fact that these customs were founded on churchliness rather than democracy, which was then popular throughout Europe, ran counter to Jean-Jacques’ theories. Rousseau emphasized that children should be allowed to develop their innate abilities. The primary goal of education is to facilitate each person’s natural growth.
Jean-Jacques feels that there should be a significant shift in the way people think about raising children. This is because a person continuously learns new things about himself and the world around him from the time of birth until death. Programs for education need to be developed in light of this. What a person needs is not a decent person and a good Christian. Sincere in his belief that there are oppressors and oppressed, but no fatherland or citizens, was Rousseau.
Parents were advised by Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s educational theories to instill in their children a desire to labor, self-respect, and a sense of freedom and independence. Never should one give in to pressure or indulge in whims, especially those of children. Simultaneously, one must reject the child’s subordination. The philosopher was primarily concerned in giving teenagers more parental responsibility.
A person’s upbringing is greatly influenced by their labor, since it helps the youngster develop a sense of duty and accountability for their own activities. This will, of course, assist the child in making a life in the future. Rousseau defined labor education as a person’s improvement on the moral, intellectual, and physical levels. Parents should place a high priority on their child’s needs and interests developing.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau believed that a child needed to have a certain quality developed in them at every stage of growing up. Period of physical development: up to two years. Sensory from age 2 to age 12, mental from age 12 to age 15, and moral from age 15 to age 18. The primary responsibility of the mother and father is to be persistent and patient, but they should never “break” the child by teaching him the incorrect ideals of the contemporary world. The baby’s health will be strengthened and fortitude and endurance will be developed through exercise and hardening.
A teenager must learn to grasp the world via their senses as they become older, not through books. Literature is good, but it feeds young brains the worldview of someone else.
As a result, the child will stop growing intellectually and instead start to accept other people’s remarks at face value. The fundamental tenet of mental education was communication: when a kid feels comfortable asking questions and getting answers, parents and teachers should foster that environment. According to Rousseau, the study of geography, biology, chemistry, and physics is crucial for human development.
At 15, growing up is characterized by frequent emotions and total emotional outbursts that overwhelm teens. During this time, it’s crucial to strive to develop moral principles in the youngster rather than overdoing it when it comes to moralizing. There’s no need to assign strangers this obligation because society is already so morally reprehensible. It’s critical at this point to cultivate compassion in thoughts, attitudes, and will. This will be simpler to accomplish this distance from large cities and their temptations.
A young person must go to becoming familiar with public tasks as soon as they turn 20. It’s interesting that female delegates were permitted to bypass this phase. Civic responsibilities are an expression unique to men. An ideal of personality that ran counter to 18th-century society is traced in the writings of Jean-Jacques Rousseau.
Although Rousseau’s writings transformed the field of education, the authorities saw danger in them, believing that they threatened the foundations of public opinion. The book “Emile, or On Education” was set on fire, and Jean-Jacques was placed under arrest. Rousseau, however, was able to hide in Switzerland. Though the French authorities disapproved of the philosopher’s ideas, they had an impact on teaching at the time.
Individual Life
Because of his financial situation, Jean-Jacques was unable to wed a noblewoman; instead, he married Therese Levasseur. The woman was employed as a maid in a Parisian hotel. Therese’s sharp wit and intelligence did not set her apart. The girl was raised in a rural household. She was not educated, and she had no idea what time it was. Levasseur seemed crude among society.
However, Rousseau remained married till the end of his life. Following twenty years of marriage, the guy and Teresa were married in a church. The couple had five kids, but the younger ones were taken to an orphanage right away. Jean-Jacques attributed this behavior on a shortage of funds. In addition, the philosopher said that the kids kept Rousseau from pursuing his passions.
Demise
July 2, 1778, saw the passing of Jean-Jacques Rousseau at Château d’Ermenonville, his rural home. In 1777, a friend of Rousseau’s brought him here after noticing a decline in his health. The friend arranged a performance on an island in the park to amuse the visitor. Jean-Jacques requested that a burial be set up for him here after falling in love with the location.
A buddy made the decision to grant Rousseau’s final wish. The Isle of Willows is thought to be the public figure’s formal resting site. Every year, hundreds of admirers flocked to the park to see the martyr that Schiller had painted with such vivid detail in his poetry. Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s remains were moved to the Pantheon during the Great French Revolution. However, a terrible incident happened 20 years later: two thieves took the philosopher’s ashes at night and dumped them into a lime-filled hole.