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Rousseau Dissents from the Modern World

By: Walter Donway Dec 18, 2024

“I ask: which of the two, civil or natural life, is more likely to become insufferable to those who live it? We see about us practically no people who do not complain about their existence...[but] has anyone ever heard of a savage man who was living in liberty ever dreaming of complaining about…

To Exonerate God, Rousseau Must Make Man Depraved

By: Walter Donway Dec 11, 2024

OLL’s November Birthday: Voltaire (November 21, 1694 – May 30, 1778)

By: Peter Carl Mentzel Nov 29, 2024

Features & Essays

Liberty Matters

The OLL brings people together to debate and discuss important texts and big ideas about liberty.

Contrasting Views of Liberty in Hume and Rousseau (November 2024)

By: OLL Editor Nov 12, 2024

David Hume’s skepticism and rigorous empiricism confront Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s idealism and passionate romanticism in this series about their perspectives on liberty. Hume and Rousseau were two of the most notorious and influential thinkers of their time. They were also very briefly friends.