jean jacque rousseau- info about this guy.?

Question

i need to know :
-at least 5 facts about his life
-What important contribution this guy made to the world (positive r negative)
-How did this historical figure changed time/society/country in which they lived(positive r negative)
thanks

Answer 1

From the first link:

"Jean-Jacques Rousseau is one of the most influential thinkers during the Enlightenment in eighteenth century Europe. His first major philosophical work, A Discourse on the Sciences and Arts, was the winning response to an essay contest conducted by the Academy of Dijon in 1750. In this work, Rousseau argues that the progression of the sciences and arts has caused the corruption of virtue and morality. This discourse won Rousseau fame and recognition, and it laid much of the philosophical groundwork for a second, longer work, The Discourse on the Origin of Inequality. The second discourse did not win the Academy’s prize, but like the first, it was widely read and further solidified Rousseau’s place as a significant intellectual figure. The central claim of the work is that human beings are basically good by nature, but were corrupted by the complex historical events that resulted in present day civil society.
Rousseau’s praise of nature is a theme that continues throughout his later works as well, the most significant of which include his comprehensive work on the philosophy of education, the Emile, and his major work on political philosophy, The Social Contract: both published in 1762. These works caused great controversy in France and were immediately banned by Paris authorities. Rousseau fled France and settled in Switzerland, but he continued to find difficulties with authorities and quarrel with friends. The end of Rousseau’s life was marked in large part by his growing paranoia and his continued attempts to justify his life and his work. This is especially evident in his later books, The Confessions, The Reveries of the Solitary Walker, and Rousseau: Judge of Jean-Jacques.

Rousseau greatly influenced Immanuel Kant’s work on ethics. His novel Julie or the New Heloise impacted the late eighteenth century’s Romantic Naturalism movement, and his political ideals were championed by leaders of the French Revolution.

Table of Contents (Clicking on the links below will take you to those parts of this article)
1. Life
a. Traditional Biography
b. The Confessions: Rousseau’s Autobiography
2. Background
a. The Beginnings of Modern Philosophy and the Enlightenment
b. The State of Nature as a Foundation for Ethics and Political Philosophy
3. The Discourses
a. Discourse on the Sciences and Arts
b. Discourse on the Origin of Inequality
c. Discourse on Political Economy
4. The Social Contract
a. Background
b. The General Will
c. Equality, Freedom, and Sovereignty
5. The Emile
a. Background
b. Education
c. Women, Marriage, and Family
d. The Profession of Faith of the Savoyard Vicar
6. Other Works
a. Julie or the New Heloise
b. Reveries of the Solitary Walker
c. Rousseau: Judge of Jean Jacques
7. Historical and Philosophical Influence
8. References and Further Reading
a. Works by Rousseau
b. Works about Rousseau

From the 2nd link:
"ean-Jacques Rousseau, (June 28, 1712 – July 2, 1778) was a philosopher and composer of the Enlightenment whose political ideas influenced the French Revolution, the development of both liberal and socialist theory, and the growth of nationalism. With his Confessions and other writings, he practically invented modern autobiography and encouraged a new focus on the building of subjectivity that would bear fruit in the work of thinkers as diverse as Hegel and Freud. His novel Julie, ou la nouvelle Héloïse was one of the best-selling fictional works of the eighteenth century and was important to the development of romanticism. Rousseau also made important contributions to music both as a theorist and a composer.
Contents [hide]
1 Biography
2 Philosophy
2.1 Theory of Natural Man
2.2 Political theory
2.2.1 "The Social Contract"
2.3 Education
2.4 Religion
3 Legacy
4 See also
5 References
6 Major works
7 Editions in English
8 Online texts
9 External links

From the 3rd link:
"ean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)


French, Swiss-born writer and philosopher, whose historical importance can be compared to that of Marx or Freud. Rousseau's life was full of contradictions: he defended the rights of little children but consigned his five illegitimate offspring to a foundling institution. Although Rousseau gained fame as an educationist, his formal education ended at about the age of twelve. He also was almost certifiably paranoid, an unsociable and quarrelsome human being, but championed man's innate goodness. Until he was 37, Rousseau had written nothing except libretti for his own music. In his later life, Rousseau became one of the dominant thinkers of the 18th century Enlightenment. The French Nobel writer Romain Rolland once said of Rousseau: "He opened into literature the riches of the subconscious, the secret movements of being, hitherto ignored and repressed."

"The first man who, having fenced in a piece of land, said, "This is mine," and found people naïve enough to believe him, that man was the true founder of civil society." (from Discours sur l'Origine et le Fondement de l'Inégalité Parmi les Hommes, 1754)

Jean Jacques Rousseau was born in Geneva, Switzerland, into a Protestant family of French refugees. Rousseau's mother died of puerperal fever shortly after his birth. His father, who was a watchmaker of unstable temperament, fled from Geneva after being involved in a brawl. The young Jean-Jacques was cared for in childhood by an aunt and a maternal uncle. Rousseau received very little regular training, and never adopted ideas of rigorous discipline. He was sent for a while a school in the country, kept by a retired pastor, and later he was apprenticed to an engraver (1725-28).

At the age of 16 Rousseau left Geneva to travel. The next 20 years he spent traveling, studying, and adventuring. Rousseau's upbringing had been Calvinist, but under the influence of his benefactress and eventually his mistress, the Vaudois Madame de Warens, he became a Roman Catholic. From 1731 until 1740 Rousseau lived with or close to Madame de Warens. At her country home, Les Charmettes, near Chambery in Savoy, Rousseau began his first serious reading and study.

After moving to Paris Rousseau earned his living with secretarial work and musical copying. In 1741 he met Thérèse Le Vasseur, a dull and unattractive hotel servant girl, with whom he stayed for the rest of his life, never marrying her. They had five children whom Rousseau allegedly consigned to Enfants-Trouvés, a foundling hospital. This was a quite a common practice of the time, but in The Confessions (1782-89) Rousseau expressed his eternal and bitter regret. The celebrated autobiography is actually not a true account of his life, and also this detail has been under debate."

Answer 2

Jean-Jacques Rousseau, (June 28, 1712 – July 2, 1778) was a philosopher and composer of the Enlightenment whose political ideas influenced the French Revolution, the development of both liberal and socialist theory, and the growth of nationalism. With his Confessions and other writings, he practically invented modern autobiography and encouraged a new focus on the building of subjectivity that would bear fruit in the work of thinkers as diverse as Hegel and Freud. His novel Julie, ou la nouvelle Héloïse was one of the best-selling fictional works of the eighteenth century and was important to the development of romanticism. Rousseau also made important contributions to music both as a theorist and a composer.

Answer 3

More to the point, is Atonement a universal experience, or a way of understanding the process of salvation that some undergo? The earliest Christian converts responded to the preaching of the disciples after the gift of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles. Some time later Paul had his conversion experience on the Damascus road. This would seem at first sight to be quite different; but perhaps it came about as he reflected inwardly on all that he had heard and seen of the Early Church. The Doctrine of the Atonement as we hear it today certainly stems from his reflections on his own experience: "This is how I understand what happened to me." Paul was the one who began to express a faith that grew out of the Jewish experience in terms that non-Jewish people who had Greek philosophy as part of their education could more readily understand. This is very different from saying that Christianity has more to do with Paul than with Jesus, which is nonsense.