Rousseau was an influential philosopher whose work had a major impact on the development of political thought. He was born in Geneva and educated by Jesuits there before moving to Paris in 1723. There he met Voltaire and Diderot with whom he became friends. He began to write poetry and music, but also became interested in philosophy, especially the ideas of Locke, whose Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690) was one of the most influential texts on education of its time.
Jean Jacques Rousseau was also important philosopher because he wrote about the importance of nature and the goodness of humans. He believed that people are born good, but society corrupts them, and he wrote about the importance of returning to a state of nature. His ideas had a major impact on social reformers in England during the Industrial Revolution, such as Robert Owen, who tried to create utopian communities based on Rousseau’s ideas.
Moreover, Rousseau drew on Locke’s ideas but also went beyond them, arguing that children should be allowed free expression from an early age so that they can grow up into independent thinkers. He believed that adults should not interfere with children’s growth by imposing their own values or rules upon them. However, this idea was one aspect of Rousseau’s philosophy which came under attack from other philosophers who argued that children needed guidance from adults if they were to develop properly.
In 1749 Rousseau published his most famous work Social Contract which argued that governments are created by people who form social contracts by giving up some rights so as to benefit from others – such as having laws enforced upon them.
