Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-78),
School: Enlightenment. NATURALISM.
Rational/Empirical: Irrationalist, Idealist - which means that he favored knowledge through emotions, and a reliance on instinct and intuition.
Influence: Psychological literature, psychoanalytic theory, and philosophy of existentialism of the 20th century were all influenced by Rousseau, particularly in his insistence on free will, his rejection of the doctrine of original sin, and his defense of learning through experience rather than analysis
Greatest Influence: Concept of Noble Savage While both Hobbes and Rousseau examined natural impulses, Rousseau's view was the antithesis of Hobbes' brutish natural man. To Rousseau, natural impulses are naturally good. There can be no original sin.
Significant Works: Émile (1762; trans. 1763), The Social Contract.

Man is born free, yet everywhere we see him in chains
We are born, so to speak, twice over; born into existence, and born into life; born a human being, and born a man
- From Emile

It is too difficult to think nobly when one thinks only of earning a living.
- From Confessions

Rousseau on the corrupting influence of civlization

Rousseau's view was that science, art, and social institutions corrupted humankind and that the natural, or primitive, state of man is morally superior to the civilized state. Yet, in order to live in civilized societies, man must accept the SOCIAL CONTRACT, and give in to the general will (generosity), sacrificing the individual will (selfishness) to what is best for the community.

To Hume, this line of thought commited an obvious logical folly - there never was a time where man truly lived as an individual - the story of humanity is a story of families, friends, and social groups. As man never entered into any "social contract" in the first place, but was rather always a social creature, Rousseau's views are fallicious.

Rousseau's Theory of Education

His new theory of education emphasized the importance of expression rather than repression in order to produce a well-balanced, freethinking child, leading to more permissive and psychologically oriented methods of child care, extreme emotional expression, concern with intense personal experience, and exploration of the conflicts between moral and sensual values. Humans must reach their full potential through free will.

Rousseau on Irrationality

Rousseau's view on epistemology were important in his time. He felt that one could gain knowledge through intution and instinct, and that this knowledge was superior to sensory knowlege or reason. His argument supposedly helped support belief in a god, despite the fact that both science and logic went against his existence.

Basically, Rousseau was saying that while logic often told us one thing, our instincts often pulled us another way, and that we had a right to favor instinct over reason, when instinct told us happier things that we wanted to believe. He might not have said it quite that way, but that is a fair reading of his intent.

The problem here is the circular logic used to delineate instinct as being superior over reason. Instinct is held to be superior solely because it tells us what we want to believe! If this becomes the criterion for delineating a superior epistemology, then self-delusion should rightfully reign over both instinct and reason, as the supreme mode to knowledge!