Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a central figure of the European Enlightenment and responsible for the notion of the "noble savage". This study of his life and works aims to show how his thinking was inspired by visionary ideals of mankind's self-realization in a condition of unfettered freedom.

Abbreviations; The life and times of a citizen of Geneva; Culture music and the corruption of morals; Human nature and civil society44; Liberty virtue and citizenship; Religion, education, and sexuality; Vagabond reverie; Further reading; Index.