Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Japanese: ルソー（英語表記）Jean-Jacques Rousseau

1712〜78
French thinker and man of letters. He had a great influence on all areas of modern culture and is called the "Father of Modernity." After a life of wandering, he went to Paris in 1741 and associated with Diderot and others. In 1749, he won a prize in an essay contest for his book "Discourse on the Origin of Inequality among Men," which advocated a return to the natural state from a negative perspective on the progress of civilization. He then argued for an equal society of small landowners without domination or submission in his "Discourse on the Social Contract" (1762), which considered the "general will" of the people to be the only supreme ruler and advocated a republic based on popular sovereignty. He also discussed education as a way to obtain the right majority, and wrote "Emile" (1762), in which he established the principle of "man in his natural state." In addition, his confessional autobiography "Confessions" (1781-88) is said to be the starting point of literature that pursues the self. Among Rousseau's works, "Emile" and others were widely read before the French Revolution, while "The Social Contract" was hardly read before the Revolution, and its true value gradually came to be understood after the Revolution.

Source: Obunsha World History Dictionary, Third Edition About Obunsha World History Dictionary, Third Edition

Japanese:

1712〜78
フランスの思想家・文学者
近代文化のあらゆる領域に大きな影響をおよぼし，「近代の父」とも呼ばれる。放浪生活ののち，1741年パリに出，ディドロらと交わり，49年，文明の進歩に対する否定的見地から自然状態への復帰を説いた『学問芸術論』が懸賞論文で当選して一躍著名となった。つづいて『人間不平等起源論』（1753）で，私有財産制によって生ずる不平等が文明社会の悪の根源であるとし，支配と服従のない小土地所有者からなる平等な社会を主張，『社会契約論（民約論）』（1762）では，人民の「一般意志」を唯一最高とし，人民主権にもとづく共和制を主張した。また，正しい多数を得る道として教育にも論及し，『エミール』（1762）を書いて，“自然のままの人間”を原理的に基礎づけた。そのほか，告白的自伝『告白』（1781〜88）は，自我追求文学の出発点といわれる。なお，ルソーの著書のうち，フランス革命前に広く読まれたのは『エミール』などで，『社会契約論』は革命前にはほとんど読まれず，革命を契機にしだいにその真価が理解されるようになった。

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