- Lived:
- 1712–1778 · Geneva, Savoy, Paris — and exile after exile
- Tradition:
- The Enlightenment's inside critic; fountainhead of Romanticism, modern democracy, and the politics of authenticity
- The Big Idea:
- Human beings are born good and free, and are corrupted by the very civilization they built — so politics, education, and the self must all be redesigned to give freedom a second chance.
- In their words:
- "Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains."
- If you remember one thing:
- The Enlightenment's biggest celebrity turned on the Enlightenment itself — arguing that progress had made us cleverer, richer, and worse — and nearly every modern argument about inequality, authenticity, childhood, or "the will of the people" is downstream of him.