Romanticism developed in Europe in the mid to late eighteenth century. It was at its height around the 1830s and had a strong influence on painting and poetry. However, other aspects of the intellectual scene such as philosophy were also influenced. Samuel Taylor Coleridge has some claim to being an academic philosopher. He left extensive philosophical writings, and did much to introduce German thought into British academic life. The roots of Romanticism in Philosophy can be seen through the work of more established academic figures, in particular, Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

Rousseau was born in Switzerland in 1712, and died in France in 1778. His life, therefore, overlapped far more with the great intellectual climate of opinion that preceded Romanticism:  the Enlightenment. It is no easier to characterise the Enlightenment than it is Romanticism. For every aspect one picks out, one can always find some figure who does not conform to it. Having said that, Enlightenment thought seems characterised by at least these features: a commitment to reason as the route to progress, and so a distrust of tradition and a preference for ‘science’.

Like Romanticism, the Enlightenment flourished in many European countries but perhaps particularly in France, Germany and Scotland. The most representative figures in France were the so-called Encyclopaedists (as they were engaged in the project of writing an Encyclopaedia that they hoped would collect together all the best thoughts of the day). Rousseau was one of this group, and contributed about 200 articles on music, and one on political economy. However, Rousseau had doubts that went to the heart of the Enlightenment view. 

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