We brought up Jean-Jacques Rousseau in class, so I thought I would give a little more detail about his philosophies. Like Voltaire, Rousseau saw nature as a guiding force. He believed that the pure "state of nature" held "uncorrupted morals." Furthermore, Rousseau believed that there were three stages of human development. The first stage was infancy (birth to 2 years old) in which a person has little power and does things for themselves. The second stage was the "age of Nature" from about 2 years old to 10/12 years old in which a person only receives a "negative education." In this stage of life, people develop physical qualities and senses but do not develop their minds. The third stage of life, the stage of the "noble savage," from ages 12-15 is the time in which people are between the two extremes of being animalistic and civilized. The fourth stage, from ages 15-20, is when people begin to use their minds and develop intellectually. The fifth and final stage occurs during adulthood and marks the time in which people mature, find love, and return to society. Aside from his theories on human development, Rousseau also held strong views regarding worldly possessions:
"The first man who, having fenced in a piece of land, said 'This is mine', and found people naïve enough to believe him, that man was the true founder of civil society. From how many crimes, wars, and murders, from how many horrors and misfortunes might not any one have saved mankind, by pulling up the stakes, or filling up the ditch, and crying to his fellows: Beware of listening to this impostor; you are undone if you once forget that the fruits of the earth belong to us all, and the earth itself to nobody."
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Rousseau is also really famous for his social contract theory, his book Émile (about education), and his ideas about the General Will.
You would probably recognize this line written by him: "Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains."
Another fun fact is that he's considered to be the first modern autobiographer and, like Voltaire, he stayed with Frederick the Great for a while. His ideas were hugely influential on the American Revolution and the U.S. Constitution as well as the French Revolution and the subsequently produced Bill of Rights as well as the Declaration of the Rights of Man of 1789 at the start of the Revolution. (See: "We the people," "Law is the expression of the general will"-Article 6 of the Declaration of the Rights of Man.) He also had influence on the idea of taxes and representation in government and in decisions on taxes (though he himself believed in more of a direct than representative democracy).
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