Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778) was one of the most influential thinkers during the Enlightenment in eighteenth century Europe. In his first major philosophical work, "A Discourse on the Sciences and Arts," Rousseau argues that the progression of the sciences and arts has caused the corruption of virtue and morality. The Discourse on the Origin of Inequality, The second discourse was widely read and further solidified Rousseau’s place as a significant intellectual figure. The central claim of the work is that human beings are basically good by nature, but were corrupted by the complex historical events that resulted in present day civil society. Rousseau’s praise of nature is a theme that continues throughout his later works as well, the most significant of which include his comprehensive work on the philosophy of education, the Emile, and his major work on political philosophy, The Social Contract: both published in 1762. Few authors have given rise to as many contradictory interpretations to his works. He is commonly seen as an inspiration for the French Revolution, but also as an influence on German nationalism. He has been represented as the father of romanticism and one of the precursors of state socialism. Hyppolite Taine accused him of collectivism, Benjamin Constant of despotism. Pierre Joseph Proudhon, who blamed him for the “great deviation of 1793,” saw him as a theorist and apologist of tyranny. Rousseau contended that man is essentially good, a "noble savage" when in the "state of nature" (the state of all the other animals, and the condition man was in before the creation of civilization and society), and that good people are made unhappy and corrupted by their experiences in society. He viewed society as "artificial" and "corrupt" and that the furthering of society results in the continuing unhappiness of man. He proposed that the progress of knowledge had made governments more powerful, and crushed individual liberty. He concluded that material progress had actually undermined the possibility of sincere friendship, replacing it with jealousy, fear and suspicion. The Discourse on the Origin of Inequality (1755) is one of Rousseau‘s most mature and daring philosophical productions. In this revolutionary piece of writing, Rousseau maintains that every variety of injustice found in human society is an artificial result of the control exercised by defective political and intellectual influences over the healthy natural impulses of otherwise noble savages. Rousseau’s Social Contract Theory laid down a new scheme of social organization. Rousseau believed that 'man is born free, but everywhere he is in chains.' He argued that all human beings have certain natural rights and liberties. These are, right to life, liberty and property. Rousseau further emphasized that human beings no longer owed obedience to any government that failed to protect these rights and liberties. He was the first philosopher to promote the concept of popular sovereignty. He justified the right of people to revolt against a tyrannical government. Rousseau believed in the establishment of an ideal state with a just society in which individual citizens would put his person and his power under the direction of the general will, i.e., the law. The three great ideals of the French Revolution "liberty, equality and fraternity? are found in Rousseau's ?Social Contract. Rousseau has two distinct social contract theories. The first is found in his essay, Discourse on the Origin and Foundations of Inequality Among Men, commonly referred to as the Second Discourse, and is