Jean Jacques Rousseau: The Philosopher Who Condemned Civilization | Ep.4 Part 1

In this first episode of our Rousseau series, Timeless Thinkers explores the most unsettling voice of the Enlightenment — Jean-Jacques Rousseau, the philosopher who condemned civilization itself.

While others celebrated reason, science, and progress, Rousseau argued that these so-called achievements had corrupted humanity.
Civilization, he claimed, replaced freedom with dependence, virtue with vanity, and authenticity with artificiality.

His first major work, The Discourse on the Sciences and Arts (1749), shocked Europe by declaring that knowledge had not improved humanity but enslaved it to appearances and pride.
From there, Rousseau began a lifelong mission: to uncover how society, property, and inequality destroyed natural freedom — and to imagine a way to reclaim it.

🎧 In this episode:
• Rousseau’s life as an outsider who defied the Enlightenment elite
• His radical vision of human nature before society
• The argument that civilization makes us worse, not better
• How his rebellion against progress laid the groundwork for The Social Contract

Rousseau didn’t just question society — he put civilization itself on trial.

🎙️ Produced by Timeless Thinkers

📺 Watch the full series:
The Social Contract: How Rousseau Reimagined the People as Sovereign and Invented Modern Democracy → [https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeVFwr0ZRxbyckUlh0OXGcHfbmXsZBYI9&si=VzSpCXSNNQA1_7Kr]
🎧 Listen on Spotify | Apple Podcasts


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🎧 Timeless Thinkers Studio brings to life the book summaries, ideas, and philosophies of history’s greatest minds — exploring how their wisdom continues to shape our world.

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