Hiking with Jean-Jacques Rousseau

7 July 2022

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) was one of the most influential philosophers of the Enlightenment (second half of the 18th century). His political, educational and literary works and novels were bestsellers during his lifetime. It brought him not only fame but also trouble with the authorities. His passion for hiking, however, is less well-known.

”Je voyageais, voyageais à pied et je voyageais seul dans l’immensité d’être. La vue de la campagne, la succession des aspects agréables, le grand air, le grand appétit, la bonne santé que je gagne an marchant, la liberté du cabaret, tout cela dégage mon âme”.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau, musée Antoine Lécuyer, Saint-Quentin

He preferred to travel on foot whenever possible, walking many thousands of kilometres in the Rhone, the Alps, and the Jura area.
Rousseau was born in Geneva, an independent republic and capital of Calvinism.

In 1728, as a young man, he left his home town on foot and went to Annecy and Turin, the capital of the Catholic Dukes of Savoy, who were kings of the Kingdom of Sardinia -Piedmont. The contrast with the Calvinist Republic of Geneva could not be more significant. In Annecy, he converted to Catholicism (but in 1754, he became a Protestant again).

Auvernier, Tjeerd Alkema, The Hikers: Photo: TES

It was in this town that his wandering life began. His wanderings took him to Lyon, Grenoble, Chambéry (former capital of the Dukes of Savoy), Lausanne, Solothurn, Neuchâtel, Biel, Boudry, Môtier and several times to Paris. In 1766 he even spent a year in England – though not on foot, that’s for sure.

His preference for travelling on foot and hiking is remarkable. In the class society of the Ancien Régime, it was a sign of poverty. One is a philosopher, or one is not, and Rousseau added: Between 1762 and 1765, he lived in exile in the canton of Neuchâtel and on the island of St. Peter in Lake Biel (canton of Bern). He combined hiking with his passion for and writing about plants. He called it:

“La Ferveur botanique est le véritable amusement d’un solitaire qui se promène et ne veut pas penser à rien“.

He was particularly enthusiastic about the nature of the Jura and his stay in the canton of Neuchâtel. The canton granted him citizenship on 16 May 1763, and on 1 January 1765, he also received citizenship from the municipality of Couvet in the canton of Neuchâtel. On 12 May 1763, he gave up his Geneva citizenship.

Because of his great devotion and respect for nature, he is also called the first ecologist. He would have joined the Swiss Alpine Club (SAC)/Club Alpine Suisse (CAS), founded in 1863.

(Source: R. Bourgeois, Rousseau. Ses Itinérances entre Rhône et Alpes, Veury France).