Jean-Jacques Rousseau

1712 – 1778 · died at about 66^[1][2]

Philosophy & Thought

Fun Facts About Jean-Jacques Rousseau

• Jean-Jacques Rousseau also wrote an opera: Le devin du village pleased King Louis XV so much that he offered Rousseau a lifelong pension, which Rousseau turned down.^[1]
• Rousseau, later famous as a theorist of education, wrote that he gave his newborn children to a foundling hospital, and critics including Voltaire used it against him.^[1][3][4]
• Rousseau came to Paris in 1742 hoping a new system of numbered musical notation would make his fortune, but the Académie des Sciences rejected it as impractical.^[1]
• In 1776 Rousseau was knocked down in a Paris street by a nobleman's galloping Great Dane, and his health began to decline after the accident.^[1]
• A letter supposedly written to Rousseau by Frederick the Great was really a playful hoax by Horace Walpole, and it helped break up Rousseau's friendship with David Hume.^[1][5][6]
• Rousseau and his great critic Voltaire ended up side by side: in 1794 Rousseau's remains were moved to the Panthéon and placed near those of Voltaire.^[1][3][4]
• Jean-Jacques Rousseau was alive at the same time as Louis XIV — their lives overlapped for 3 years (1712–1715).^[1][2][7][8]
• Jean-Jacques Rousseau shares a birthday with Elon Musk: both were born on June 28.^{[1][2][9][10]}

Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a Genevan philosophe, writer, and composer. His political philosophy was influential during the Age of Enlightenment, as well as during the French Revolution.^[1]

Contemporaries

Voltaire

66 yr overlap

Benjamin Franklin

66 yr overlap

Carl Linnaeus

66 yr overlap

Frederick the Great

66 yr overlap

Leonhard Euler

66 yr overlap

Adam Smith

55 yr overlap

Immanuel Kant

54 yr overlap

Captain James Cook

50 yr overlap

Catherine the Great

49 yr overlap

George Frideric Handel

47 yr overlap

George Washington

46 yr overlap

Joseph Haydn

46 yr overlap

Their World

Questions About Jean-Jacques Rousseau

When was Jean-Jacques Rousseau born?

Jean-Jacques Rousseau was born on June 28, 1712, and died on July 2, 1778.

How old was Jean-Jacques Rousseau at death?

Jean-Jacques Rousseau was born on June 28, 1712, and died on July 2, 1778, at age 66.

What was Jean-Jacques Rousseau known for?

Jean-Jacques Rousseau was known for: Enlightenment philosopher of The Social Contract. Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a Genevan philosophe, writer, and composer. His political philosophy was influential during the Age of Enlightenment, as well as during the French Revolution.

Who was alive at the same time as Jean-Jacques Rousseau?

Jean-Jacques Rousseau's closest contemporary was Voltaire. Their lives overlapped for 66 years.