JEAN JACQUES

See also:

• JEAN JACQUES BURLAMAQUI (1694–1748)

BURLAMAQUI (1694–1748)  , Swiss publicist, was born at Geneva on the 24th of June 1694 . At the age of twenty-five he was designated honorary professor of ethics and the law of nature at the university of Geneva . Before taking up the appointment he travelled through France and England, and made the acquaintance of the most eminent writers of the period . On his return he began his lectures, and soon gained a wide reputation, from the simplicity of his style and the precision of his views . He continued to lecture for fifteen years, when he was compelled on account of ill-health to resign . His fellow-citizens at once elected him a member of the council of state, and he gained as high a reputation for his practical sagacity as he had for his theoretical knowledge . He died at Geneva on the 3rd of April 1748 . His works were Principes du droit naturel (1747), and Principes du droit politique (1751) . These have passed through many editions, and were very extensively used as text-books . Burlamaqui's style is simple and clear, and his arrangement of the material good . His fundamental principle may be described as rational utilitarianism, and in many ways it resembles that of Cumberland .