Jean Jacques Rousseau

Jean Jacques Rousseau was born on June 28, 1712 in Geneva, Switzerland, into a Protestant family of French refugees. His mother died shortly after his birth, and his father was a watchmaker who fled from Geneva after being involved in a “brawl.” This left Jean-Jacques to be cared for by an aunt and uncle. He was sent to school in the country, where he lived with a pastor until he was twelve years old. Eventually, he was an apprenticed engraver. At the age of sixteen, Jean-Jacques left Geneva and spent the next twenty years of his life traveling, studying, and adventuring. Although Rousseau had been brought up as a Calvinist, the influence of his mistress Vaudois Madame de Warens, made him convert to Roman Catholic. From 1731 until 1740, Rousseau lived with Madame de Warens in Les Charmettes, near Chambery in Savoy. This is where Jean-Jacques began his first serious reading and study.

Rousseau then moved to Paris, France and earned his living with secretarial work and music...