This handbook presents the work of Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778), one the most important and versatile theorists of the Enlightenment. The works shows that the impact of Rousseau’s work, which spans political, sociological, moral-philosophical, pedagogical, linguistic, botanical, and compositional domains extends beyond the eighteenth century, and is still relevant today. This handbook does not only present the richness of Rousseau’s oeuvre and its diverse interconnections, but also outlines recent research trends, offering a range of interpretive approaches, and raising questions concerning coherence and contradiction, and demonstrates as such the continued relevance of Rousseau’s writings.

Dr. Skadi Siiri Krause is a fellow at the Université Libre de Bruxelles and works at the Permanent Representation of the Federal Republic of Germany to the European Union.