Enlightenment criticism · republicanism · 1712–1778

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Understanding the dependencies that shape us.

Geneva · France · Switzerland · England

Portraits: artistic interpretations

Bibliography

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Works, testimonies and further readings are distinguished. Dates refer to composition or first publication, as specified in each entry.

Bibliographic scope

Catalogue of major works, constitutional projects, autobiographical writings, published interventions, and explicitly named shorter collections. Dates distinguish composition and posthumous publication where necessary. Grouped pieces are not all independent treatises. General correspondence, articles, poems, scores, variants, and additional fragments require complete editions: this reading catalogue does not replace a scholarly inventory. The letter index is partial and identifies only the specified published letters and sequences.

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01

Work1750

Discourse on the Arts and Sciences

First Discourse, awarded the Dijon Academy’s prize. His answer to the Dijon competition launched his fame and a sustained controversy about Enlightenment. It works through historical examples and rhetorical contrasts rather than an exhaustive history of science.

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02

Work1755

Discourse on the Origin of Inequality

Second Discourse; conjectural inquiry rather than verified historical narrative.

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03

Work1755

Discourse on Political Economy

Encyclopédie article “Economy,” later published separately. The article precedes The Social Contract and already uses the general will. Its proposals about taxation reveal attention to concrete institutions.

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04

Work1758

Letter to d’Alembert on the Theatre

Response to the proposal for a theatre in Geneva. The controversy concerns Geneva, the encyclopedists, and the public role of art. Claims about gender and manners also reflect contestable historical assumptions.

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05

Work1761

Julie, or the New Heloise

Epistolary novel in six parts. Its enormous success made Rousseau central to the culture of sensibility. Clarens becomes a narrative laboratory whose economic and emotional order invites examination.

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06

Work1762

The Social Contract

Four-book treatise on political legitimacy. The book examines legitimacy, institutions, and the political body’s fragility. It distinguishes the general will from an aggregate of private interests.

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07

Work1762

Emile, or On Education

Narrative treatise in five books, including the Savoyard Vicar’s Profession of Faith.

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08

Work1763

Letter to Christophe de Beaumont

Defense of Emile against the Archbishop of Paris’s condemnation.

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09

Work1764

Letters Written from the Mountain

Nine public letters about religion and Genevan institutions. Following the condemnation of Emile and The Social Contract, the text applies political principles to definite local procedures and conflicts.

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10

Work1782 / 1789

Confessions

Twelve-book autobiography, published in two installments after the author’s death.

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11

Work1782

Reveries of the Solitary Walker

Ten walks; the last remains unfinished. Written in 1776–1778 and published posthumously, the Reveries are not a systematic treatise. They join lived scenes and literary composition.

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12

Work1782

Rousseau, Judge of Jean-Jacques

Three dialogues, composed mainly between 1772 and 1776. Written under a sense of pervasive persecution, the work requires attention to form. Its accusations should neither all be accepted as facts nor the writing reduced to a medical diagnosis.

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13

Work1781

Essay on the Origin of Languages

Posthumous essay; its chronology of composition remains debated.

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14

Work1768

Dictionary of Music

Theoretical, technical, and polemical dictionary. It revises work originally undertaken for the Encyclopédie. Alphabetical arrangement contains debates extending across entries.

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15

Work1765 / 1861

Constitutional Project for Corsica

Unfinished project of 1765, published in 1861. Written in response to a Corsican request, it remained a proposal rather than an implemented constitution. Its program belongs within eighteenth-century Mediterranean relations.

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16

Work1771–1772 / 1782

Considerations on the Government of Poland

Constitutional reflection written in 1771–1772, published in 1782.

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17

Work1756–1761 / 1782

Writings on the Abbé de Saint-Pierre

Collection: Abstract and Judgment of the Project for Perpetual Peace; Polysynody and Judgment on Polysynody.

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18

Work1771–1774 / 1782

Elementary Letters on Botany

Eight letters to Madeleine-Catherine Delessert; posthumous publication.

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19

Work1756-08-18

Letter to Voltaire on Providence

Letter of 18 August 1756, responding to the Poem on the Lisbon Disaster.

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20

Work1730–1778

Short writings, drama, and music

Dossier: Narcissus, The Gallant Muses, The Village Soothsayer, Pygmalion, The Levite of Ephraim, Emile and Sophie, Project for New Musical Signs, Dissertation on Modern Music, and Letter on French Music.

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Sources & reference points

Rousseau Online — Collection complète Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy — Rousseau