Man is born free and everywhere he is in chains. – Jean Jacques Rousseau
Born in Geneva (capital city of present day Switzerland), Jean Jacques Rousseau moved to France at the age of 16. A few years after the death of Louis XIV in 1715, his great grandson Louis XV assumed as monarch who like his great-grand father did not enjoy comfort with the nobility and church. The 18th century was the century of Enlightenment. The middle class, unhappy with the monarch as well as nobility turned against the bourgeoisie and called for reforms of French institutions. In the midst of upheavals in France, Rousseau produced several works on various phenomena, in particular, his work ‘Le Contract Social’ (The Social Contract) appeared in 1762. The political philosophy of Rousseau blended the views of Hobbes and Locke in his doctrine of popular sovereignty with absolute powers. His views influenced the French Revolution of 1789 which ended monarchy and established the first Republic of France. He belonged to the category of Social Contract theorists like Hobbes and Locke, but unlike them he had no axe to grind.