The romantic movement opened up contemporary thinkers to more objective ways of looking at the world, other than just deriving everything from Christianity, which, pre-enlightenment, was the only prevailing school of thought.
Rousseau was an important figure in the changing process, challenging the long standing dogma and trying to make clear that thinkers were just using God to fill in the gaps where contemporary science was lacking, but as science and reason develops and begins to filter through in to mainstream society, these gaps begin to be filled, with Rousseau nudging the revolution along with his philosophical underpinnings.
Rousseau himself became known to be a sort of 'lone walker', fascinated with all things nature, he marvelled at mountains and enjoyed walking among them, trying to place humanity in some sort of place against natures wonders. This new naturalistic way of thinking however was many a time met with a cold reception, as many refused to attempt to open their minds, which resulted in his being run out of town on more than one occasion. Contemporary thinkers likely stifled their guffaws as he described to them how listening to the waves at the beach could make all his fears and worries melt away, his painful experiences be alleviated by mother natures truest beauties. Truth for Rousseau could at last be found in all things natural and he wanted the rest of society to indulge in these freedoms of pleasure, thinking and new form. He proclaimed time and again that man is virtuous and beautiful but that man had been corrupted by the trapping of civilisation and that we should return to our natural form, but he was in time slightly shot down by Voltaire, who preferred it to be thought that science helped us out of the caves and encouraged us to build ourselves up.
Of course we all know what it is like to be stuck in a system, and sometimes there is nothing better than getting lost in nature so I can understand Rousseau's thoughts, but it is impossible to keep running away, no matter how beautiful and enticing nature is and always will be.
Rousseau was not a man of simple words however, he travelled many places, bringing back his stories of the tribes in Tahiti for example, who seemed so perfectly content with living in and amongst nature.
It was Hobbes however who had said that the state of nature was brutish and animalistic, but Rousseau counters this, claiming that property ownership was wrong, and was what bound us to an ugly life, forbidding us from the passions and sensibility which man should experience.
In a general sense it would be easy today to claim Rousseau to be some sort of tree-loving anti-government hippy, but what I see is a very enlightened man for his time. It takes a lot of time and emotional and spiritual energy to become as enlightened in this natural sensibility, and the frustrations he must have felt are unimaginable. We could all say "you can't live like that" but having recently camped in nature with bare essentials I found it a very enlightening experience to be able to sit and think clearly for a change with nothing but the mountains and the ever changing Welsh weather!
Gradually as more people became more aware of the changing political climate and mood, more began to adopt this feeling of reform in thinking and the French Revolution begins which shocks left and right politics into a new reform period, the result of which is that the 'Declaration of the Rights of Man' are drawn up, with much credit being due to Rousseau.
"Men are born and remain free and equal"
The old order came under vicious attack during the reform period, as the new order drew together under the idea of 'we the people' - promoting passion and change. The New World was changing everything, but not without great terror and violence, as Prussia planned to attack Paris in 1792, and eventually in 1793 the demise of the King under the Guillotine.
Rousseau was definitely a thinker ahead of his time, which I appreciate is easy to say, but I can not help but feel his words seem to hold true more and more every day
-"Man is born free, but everywhere is in chains."
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