He was an inhabitant of France but was born in Geneva in 1712. His father was a watch-maker who was a very licentious man. Rousseau was badly affected by the character of his father. He did not receive any education in any school regularly.
He tumbled through his life and suffered throughout. He travelled in countries and to cities like Geneva, London, Paris, Vienna etc., and passed an aimless life, wandering here and there with no mission in his mind.
He was corrupt in his, personal life. He had great insight for gambling. During his tramp’s life he adopted several professions like that of a private secretary, the lace seller, musician etc., to earn his livelihood, but he did not succeed in any.
The economic condition of Rousseau was never satisfactory and hence the offspring’s of this great intellectual had to be brought up in “orphanages. However, he influenced the contemporary society of Europe to a great extent. D’ Alembert was his greatest critic, and he has written about Rousseau:
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“He is like a horrible animal. Hence he should be kept in a cage.”
Towards the end of his life, he wrote a book entitled Confessions and after going through it Johnson, a famous scholar, remarked:
“He was so bad a man that he should be hanged at the nearest tree.”
He had all the evils that a gentleman should not possess.
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In spite of all these evils in him, he impressed the French Revolution to a greater extent than all the philosophers put together. Napoleon the Great, accepting his significance, once remarked:
“Had there been no Rousseau, there would have been no revolution.”
An eminent historian Madelin has also observed:
“Rousseau, of all contemporary writers, was the most discussed philosopher who created the most opposite sentiments of love and hate.”
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Rousseau heads a supreme position among all the philosophers and he influenced the society more than anybody else. Robespierre and St. Joust also regarded themselves the followers of Rousseau, Montesquieu and Voltaire made an impact upon the minds of people while Rousseau influenced their hearts.
He was an ardent lover of nature. His heart danced with immense pleasure to see the green fields and blue sky. He did not like inequality.
He used to say that “this earth has not been made for one man but God has made it for all.” In his book Discourse on the Origin of Inequality he has analysed the inequality, dishonesty, fraud and exploitation of the modern civilization.
In his opinion the natural man was far better than the modern one. ‘Go back to nature’ was his well-known slogan for he disliked pomp and show of the modern society.
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Social Contract was his most renowned book. Rousseau wrote the book in 1761. It was based on the philosophy of Locke. The opening lines of this book are very much inspiring:
“Man is born free and he is everywhere in chains.”
His thought revolutionised the thinking of the French people and his book came to be known as the ‘Bible of the Revolution’. He gave new shape to the fundamental rights of mankind in his book, Social Contract.
He was in favour of demolishing those bondages’ of mankind ii which they were chained later on. He stressed that the king instead o regarding himself as an absolute monarch, should consider himself a servant of humanity and should serve them with heart and soul.
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But if till king by violating the terms of agreement inflict difficulties and problem on his subjects, the people have a right to remove him from the throne. Thus he denounced the ‘Divine Right’ theory of the kings propounded the Social Contract theory for the good of mankind.
Rousseau vehemently criticised the economic inequality prevalent in the French society. He used to say:
“No citizen should be rich enough to be able to buy another, and none poor enough to be forced to sell himself.”
He has discussed his views about education in his novel Emile. He was completely against the artificial education. He wanted that a student should be educated according to his will.
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He was, in fact, in favour of technical education so that the young ones might be benefited by it. He opposed the study of ancient Latin and Greek languages.
Rousseau breathed his last in 1792 but his thoughts continued to haunt the mind of the French people. It would not be out of place to say that the philosophy and thoughts of Rousseau created a strong ground for the French Revolution.
He invoked a revolutionary fire among the masses which could only be quenched by the outburst of the revolution Lord Morley has paid glowing tribute to Rousseau in these words:
“In the first place Rousseau spoke words that could never be unspoken and in the second he kindled a hope that could never be extinguished. Really, Rousseau made a tremendous impact upon France by his revolutionary thoughts.
Rousseau, the father of revolutionary thoughts, has also been praised by C. D. Hazen in these words:
“In France, thousands of enlightened townsfolk were very shortly to participate in a political, social and religious revolution the great French Revolution the of which the chief motives were to be Rousseau’s liberty, equality, fraternity, popular sovereignty democracy”.