1712-1778
Philosopher

Early Life. Jean-Jacques Rousseau was born in Geneva, where he spent his difficult childhood. His mother died while he was young, and his father neglected him. When he was sixteen years old he left Geneva. After traveling throughout northern Italy and returning for a time to Switzerland, he settled in Paris during the early 1740s. In Paris he became acquainted with many other French philosophes, notably Denis Diderot (1713-1784), the editor of the celebrated Encyclopedie Rousseau's early interest was music, but by the late 1750s he had turned to philosophy and politics, after winning an essay competition sponsored by the Academy of Dijon. In 1758 he left Paris for rural life on a friend's country estate near Montmorency.

Writings. During the 1750s and 1760s Rousseau produced his best-known books, including his Lettre a d'Alembert (Letter to d'Alembert, 1758), Julie: ou, la nouvelle Heloise (Julie, or, The...