Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) was an important political thinker who was very influential in the Enlightenment movement. His greatest impact on the world today has to be his influence on democratic government. He believed that people granted the government some of their personal freedoms in exchange for the safety and security that a government can provide. This is known as social contract theory. Rousseau also believed in individual freedoms and felt a government must work for the people in protecting civil liberties. These theories were presented in his seminal work, The Social Contract (1762).
It should also be mentioned that Rousseau believed that morality and virtue were being corrupted by the progression of science and technology. These ideas were presented in an earlier work called Discourse on the Arts and Sciences (1750). This is an important concept for today's society as people meet the challenge of adapting to a rapidly evolving digital world. This may be an area to explore further in answering this question. Over time, it is amazing how much things change, but at the same time remain the same.
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