Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Rousseau, Jean Jacques

(Encyclopedia)Rousseau, Jean Jacques ro͞osōˈ [key], 1712–78, Swiss-French philosopher, author, political theorist, and composer. Rousseau's influence on posterity has been equaled by only a few, and it is...

Faguet, Émile

(Encyclopedia)Faguet, Émile āmēlˈ fägāˈ [key], 1847–1916, French literary critic and historian. His prolific studies stimulated interest in French intellectual history of the 17th, 18th, and 19th cent. His...

Smith College

(Encyclopedia)Smith College, at Northampton, Mass.; undergraduate for women, graduate coeducational; chartered 1871, opened 1875 through a bequest of Sophia Smith. The first president, Laurenus Clark Seelye, was in...

social contract

(Encyclopedia)social contract, agreement or covenant by which men are said to have abandoned the “state of nature” to form the society in which they now live. The theory of such a contract, first formulated by ...

Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, Jacques Henri

(Encyclopedia)Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, Jacques Henri zhäk äNrēˈ bĕrnärdăNˈ də săN–pyĕrˈ [key], 1737–1814, French naturalist and author. He was a friend of Rousseau, by whom he was strongly influen...

Champollion, Jean François

(Encyclopedia)Champollion, Jean François –fēzhäkˈ [key], 1778–1867, was an archaeologist and paleographer, a professor of Greek at Grenoble, and a curator of manuscripts at the Bibliothèque nationale. He a...

Moreau, Jean-Michel

(Encyclopedia)Moreau, Jean-Michel môrōˈ [key], 1741–1814, French draftsman and engraver, called Moreau le jeune. He is noted for his charming illustrations of the work of Voltaire, Molière, and Rousseau and ...

Burlamaqui, Jean Jacques

(Encyclopedia)Burlamaqui, Jean Jacques zhäN zhäk bo͝orlämäkēˈ [key], 1694–1748, Swiss jurist. His chief works are Principes du droit naturel [principles of natural law] (1747) and Principes du droit politi...

Reclus, Jean Jacques Élisée

(Encyclopedia)Reclus, Jean Jacques Élisée zhäN zhäk ālēzāˈ rəklüˈ [key], 1830–1905, French geographer, b. Gironde, educated mainly in Germany, where he studied under Karl Ritter. Several times he was f...
 

Browse by Subject