Katie Johnson
11-13-03 per. 3A
Mrs. Walker
Rousseau’s Resume
Name: Jean- Jacques Rousseau/ Katie Johnson
Address: Paris France
Job objectives: I would like to be a philosopher and prove those who came before me wrong. I wish to prove that there are no laws, no judges; all people were equal. I believe that in order to preserve private property, people have adopted judges, laws, and governors. Government was evil but necessary. I wish to publish books and educate people about the necessity of government but the evils it possesses as well.
Qualifications/Life experiences: I have held many jobs and because of my abandonment as a child I have learned many life lessons that you cannot learn through books. I went back school in France where I studied music and the classics. I have many influential friends, but none as close as Denis Diderot.
Employment: Philosopher and paid escort of women.
Education and Training: I went to school in France and studied music and the classics.
Summary of major works: Discourse on the Origins of the Inequality of Mankind: In this book I wrote that humans began in a happy state or natural state with out laws or government. But as time progressed humans began to obtain possessions and they wished to maintain control of those possessions. In order to do so human established a government. Thus humans are in an unhappy state. This book consists of two volumes, The Social Contract and Emile.
The Social Contract: This book was published in 1762. In this work I tried to harmonize individual liberty with government authority. The social contract was basically an agreement on the part of an entire society to be governed by its general will. If any person wished to follow his own thoughts then he would be forced to be free. The community wanted to do what was best for the community. True freedom is adherence to laws that one had imposed on one’s self. Because everyone was responsible for framing the general will, the creation of laws could never be delegated to a parliamentary institution. This book was eventually evoked at the raising of the French Revolution.
Emile: This book was also published in 1762. This work was one of the most important works on education during the Enlightenment. It was written in the form of a novel. This book was about a boy named Emile who was allowed to encounter nature as it was and he learned from his heart and his life lessons.
"The self-torturing sophist, wild Rousseau" (Lord Byron, 1788-1824).
Mock on, Mock on, Voltaire, Rousseau: Mock on, Mock on: 'tis all in vain!
You throw the sand against the wind, and the wind blows it back again" (William Blake, 1757-1827).
"Maybe it would have been better if neither of us had been born" (Napoleon I, 1769-1821