Rousseau
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (, ; ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Genevan philosopher ('' philosophe''), writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment throughout Europe, as well as aspects of the French Revolution and the development of modern political, economic, and educational thought. His '' Discourse on Inequality'', which argues that private property is the source of inequality, and ''The Social Contract'', which outlines the basis for a legitimate political order, are cornerstones in modern political and social thought. Rousseau's sentimental novel '' Julie, or the New Heloise'' (1761) was important to the development of preromanticism and romanticism in fiction. His '' Emile, or On Education'' (1762) is an educational treatise on the place of the individual in society. Rousseau's autobiographical writings—the posthumously published '' Confessions'' (completed in 1770), which initiated the modern autobiography, an ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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General Will
In political philosophy, the general will () is the will of the people as a whole. The term was made famous by 18th-century Genevan philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau. It can be considered as an early, informal predecessor to the idea of a social welfare function in social choice theory. Basic ideas The phrase "general will", as Rousseau used it, occurs in Article Six of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (French: ''Déclaration des droits de l'Homme et du citoyen''), composed in 1789 during the French Revolution:The law is the expression of the general will. All citizens have the right to contribute personally, or through their representatives, to its formation. It must be the same for all, whether it protects or punishes. All citizens, being equal in its eyes, are equally admissible to all public dignities, positions, and employments, according to their capacities, and without any other distinction than that of their virtues and their talents. James Swens ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Social Contract
In moral and political philosophy, the social contract is an idea, theory, or model that usually, although not always, concerns the legitimacy of the authority of the state over the individual. Conceptualized in the Age of Enlightenment, it is a core concept of constitutionalism, while not necessarily convened and written down in a constituent assembly and constitution. Social contract arguments typically are that individuals have consented, either explicitly or tacitly, to surrender some of their freedoms and submit to the authority (of the ruler, or to the decision of a majority) in exchange for protection of their remaining rights or maintenance of the social order. The relation between natural and legal rights is often a topic of social contract theory. The term takes its name from '' The Social Contract'' (French: ''Du contrat social ou Principes du droit politique''), a 1762 book by Jean-Jacques Rousseau that discussed this concept. Although the antecedents of soci ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Thérèse Levasseur
Marie-Thérèse Levasseur (; 21 September 1721 – 12 July 1801; also known as ''Thérèse Le Vasseur'', ''Lavasseur'') was the domestic partner, mistress, wife and widow of Genevan philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Biography Thérèse Le Vasseur came from a respected family that had fallen on hard times; her father had a small official position relating to currency in Orléans, which he lost by 1744, and her mother was a shop-keeper; this business having failed, Thérèse and her mother moved to Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ... to find work, and were later joined by her father. Le Vasseur met Rousseau in Paris in 1745. Le Vasseur was working as a laundress and chambermaid at the Hotel Saint-Quentin in the rue des Cordiers, where Rousseau took his me ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Human Nature
Human nature comprises the fundamental dispositions and characteristics—including ways of Thought, thinking, feeling, and agency (philosophy), acting—that humans are said to have nature (philosophy), naturally. The term is often used to denote the essence of humankind, or what it 'Meaning (psychology), means' to be human. This usage has proven to be controversial in that there is dispute as to whether or not such an essence actually exists. Arguments about human nature have been a central focus of philosophy for centuries and the concept continues to provoke lively philosophical debate. While both concepts are distinct from one another, discussions regarding human nature are typically related to those regarding the comparative importance of genes and Social environment, environment in Developmental psychology, human development (i.e., 'nature versus nurture'). Accordingly, the concept also continues to play a role in academic fields, such as both the natural science, natural an ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Age Of Enlightenment
The Age of Enlightenment (also the Age of Reason and the Enlightenment) was a Europe, European Intellect, intellectual and Philosophy, philosophical movement active from the late 17th to early 19th century. Chiefly valuing knowledge gained through rationalism and empiricism, the Enlightenment was concerned with a wide range of social and Politics, political ideals such as natural law, liberty, and progress, toleration and fraternity (philosophy), fraternity, constitutional government, and the formal separation of church and state. The Enlightenment was preceded by and overlapped the Scientific Revolution, which included the work of Johannes Kepler, Galileo Galilei, Francis Bacon, Pierre Gassendi, Christiaan Huygens and Isaac Newton, among others, as well as the philosophy of Descartes, Hobbes, Spinoza, Leibniz, and John Locke. The dating of the period of the beginning of the Enlightenment can be attributed to the publication of René Descartes' ''Discourse on the Method'' in 1 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Amour De Soi
''Amour de soi'' (; ) is a concept in the philosophy of Jean-Jacques Rousseau that refers to the kind of self-love that humans share with brute animals and predates the appearance of society. Concept Rousseau maintained in '' Emile'' that ''amour de soi'' is the source of human passion as well as the origin and the principle of all the other desires. It is associated with the notion of "self-preservation" as a natural sentiment that drives every animal to watch over its own survival. The philosopher stated that this type of love is prominent at the stage where our faculties are not developed, hence considered still one of a brute. This concept forms part of Rousseau's argument that the gulf between humans and the rest of animal creation does not exist. Acts committed out of ''amour de soi'' tend to be for individual well-being. It is considered "always good and always in conformity with order", for it is not malicious, because ''amour de soi'' as self-love does not involve pur ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ermenonville
Ermenonville () is a commune in the Oise department, northern France. Located near Paris, Ermenonville is notable for its park named for Jean-Jacques Rousseau by René Louis de Girardin. Rousseau's tomb was designed by the painter Hubert Robert, and sits on the Isle of Poplars in its lake. History On 3 March 1974, Turkish Airlines Flight 981 crashed in the Ermenonville Forest in Fontaine-Chaalis, Oise, near Ermenonville killing all 346 occupants onboard. Three town councilors died on 1 June 2009 when Air France Flight 447 crashed into the Atlantic killing all 228 occupants onboard. Park The garden at Ermenonville was one of the earliest and finest examples of the French landscape garden. The garden at Ermenonville was planned beginning in 1762 by Marquis René Louis de Girardin, the friend and final patron of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Girardin's master plan drew its inspiration from Rousseau's novels and philosophy of the nobility of Nature. Rousseau's tomb is prominent ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Civil Religion
Civil religion, also referred to as a civic religion, is the implicit religious values of a nation, as expressed through public rituals, symbols (such as the national flag), and ceremonies on sacred days and at sacred places (such as monuments, battlefields, or national cemeteries). It is distinct from churches, although church officials and ceremonies are sometimes incorporated into the practice of civil religion. Countries described as having a civil religion include France and the United States. As a concept, it originated in French political thought and became a major topic for U.S. sociologists since its use by Robert Bellah in 1960. Origin of term Jean-Jacques Rousseau coined the term in chapter 8, book 4 of ''The Social Contract'' (1762), to describe what he regarded as the moral and spiritual foundation essential for any modern society. For Rousseau, civil religion was intended simply as a form of social cement, helping to unify the state by providing it with sacred aut ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Amour-propre
''Amour-propre'' (; ) is a French term that can be variously translated as "self-love", "self-esteem", or "vanity". In philosophy, it is a term used by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who contrasts it with another kind of self-love, which he calls ''amour de soi''. Concept According to Rousseau, the difference between the two is that ''amour-propre'' assumes that self-esteem can only be found by gaining the approval of others, whereas ''amour de soi'' involves one's feelings for oneself alone, without any intervening concerns about how one is seen by others. According to Rousseau, ''amour de soi'' is more primitive and is compatible with wholeness and happiness, while ''amour-propre'' is a form of self-love that arose only with the appearance of society and individuals' consequent ability to compare themselves with one another. Rousseau thought that ''amour-propre'' was subject to corruption, thereby causing vice and misery. But in addition, by guiding us to seek others' approval and r ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Popular Sovereignty
Popular sovereignty is the principle that the leaders of a state and its government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ... are created and sustained by the consent of its people, who are the source of all political legitimacy. Popular sovereignty, being a principle, does not imply any particular political implementation.Leonard Levy notes of the "doctrine" of popular sovereignty that it "relates primarily not to the Constitution's [actual] operation but to its source of authority and supremacy, ratification, amendment, and possible abolition" (Tarcov 1986, v. 3, p. 1426). Benjamin Franklin expressed the concept when he wrote that "In free governments, the rulers are the servants and the people their superiors and sovereigns". Origins In ''Defensor pacis'', Marsilius ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Geneva
Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the capital of the Canton of Geneva, Republic and Canton of Geneva, and a centre for international diplomacy. Geneva hosts the highest number of International organization, international organizations in the world, and has been referred to as the world's most compact metropolis and the "Peace Capital". Geneva is a global city, an international financial centre, and a worldwide centre for diplomacy hosting the highest number of international organizations in the world, including the headquarters of many agencies of the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross, ICRC and International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, IFRC of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, Red Cross. In the aftermath ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Autobiography
An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life, providing a personal narrative that reflects on the author's experiences, memories, and insights. This genre allows individuals to share their unique perspectives and stories, offering readers a glimpse into the author's personal journey and the historical or cultural context in which they lived. The term "autobiography" was first used in 1797, but the practice of writing about one's life dates back to antiquity. Early examples include Saint Augustine's '' Confessions'' (), which is considered one of the first Western autobiographies. Unlike biographies, which are written by someone else, autobiographies are based on the author's memory and personal interpretation of events, making them inherently subjective. This subjectivity can sometimes lead to inaccuracies or embellishments, as the author may recall events differently or choose to present them in a certain light. Autobi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |