# Jean-Jacques Rousseau

- Id: `rousseau`
- Canonical url: `https://prokopton42.com/en/thinkers/rousseau/`
- Language: `en`
- Editorial status: `research_in_progress`
- Content checksum: `641b99a9a863683b1457085f4d5287e6f64c3247c5512568ce13fa887ee53d04`

## Summary

Rousseau asks how people can remain free in society, how inequality becomes legitimate, and how education can protect a developing judgment. His autobiographical writing also makes self-knowledge a difficult public experiment.

## The central idea

A society is free only when those who obey its laws help make them as equal citizens.

## Overview

This profile documents preparatory research. It does not mean that the voice is already allowed to speak.

## Lifespan

```json
{
    "display": "1712-1778",
    "era": "Early modern period",
    "distance": "248–314 years ago",
    "age_at_death": 66
}
```

## Intellectual tradition

```json
{
    "id": "modern-philosophy",
    "name": "Modern and contemporary philosophy",
    "detail": "Enlightenment, political philosophy and education",
    "labels": [
        "Modern and contemporary philosophy",
        "Enlightenment, political philosophy and education"
    ]
}
```

## Historical cutoff

```json
{
    "year": null,
    "display": null,
    "reason": ""
}
```

## Statistics

```json
{
    "works": 0,
    "passages": 0,
    "languages": [],
    "intellectual_exposures": 0,
    "typed_relationships": 0
}
```

## Historical landmarks

```json
[
    {
        "kind": "place",
        "title": "Geneva",
        "period": "1712-1728",
        "description": "Birthplace and early apprenticeship.",
        "fact_status": "attested",
        "confidence": "A",
        "source_label": "Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy",
        "source_url": "https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/rousseau/"
    },
    {
        "kind": "place",
        "title": "Paris",
        "period": "1742-1756; later stays",
        "description": "Literary, musical and philosophical work, with repeated later returns.",
        "fact_status": "attested",
        "confidence": "A",
        "source_label": "Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy",
        "source_url": "https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/rousseau/"
    },
    {
        "kind": "place",
        "title": "Montmorency",
        "period": "1757-1762",
        "description": "Residence during the composition and publication of several major works.",
        "fact_status": "attested",
        "confidence": "A",
        "source_label": "Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy",
        "source_url": "https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/rousseau/"
    },
    {
        "kind": "place",
        "title": "Île Saint-Pierre",
        "period": "1765",
        "description": "Brief refuge later recalled in the Reveries.",
        "fact_status": "attested",
        "confidence": "A",
        "source_label": "Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy",
        "source_url": "https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/rousseau/"
    },
    {
        "kind": "place",
        "title": "Ermenonville",
        "period": "1778",
        "description": "Final residence and place of death.",
        "fact_status": "attested",
        "confidence": "A",
        "source_label": "Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy",
        "source_url": "https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/rousseau/"
    }
]
```

## Temperament review

```json
{
    "profile_id": "jean-jacques-rousseau-temperament-v1",
    "overall_confidence": "C",
    "confidence_meaning": "convergence of primary text and near-contemporary testimony",
    "observation_count": 1,
    "source_count": 1,
    "basis": "Research profile grounded in political, educational, and autobiographical texts under preparation. It does not turn self-narration into diagnosis."
}
```

## Places

```json
[
    {
        "name": "Geneva",
        "period": "1712-1728",
        "description": "Birthplace and early apprenticeship.",
        "confidence": "A",
        "source_url": "https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/rousseau/"
    },
    {
        "name": "Paris",
        "period": "1742-1756; later stays",
        "description": "Literary, musical and philosophical work, with repeated later returns.",
        "confidence": "A",
        "source_url": "https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/rousseau/"
    },
    {
        "name": "Montmorency",
        "period": "1757-1762",
        "description": "Residence during the composition and publication of several major works.",
        "confidence": "A",
        "source_url": "https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/rousseau/"
    },
    {
        "name": "Île Saint-Pierre",
        "period": "1765",
        "description": "Brief refuge later recalled in the Reveries.",
        "confidence": "A",
        "source_url": "https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/rousseau/"
    },
    {
        "name": "Ermenonville",
        "period": "1778",
        "description": "Final residence and place of death.",
        "confidence": "A",
        "source_url": "https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/rousseau/"
    }
]
```