Which thinker of the Romantic Movement argued that Enlightenment reliance on logic was flawed and urged reliance on emotion and instinct?

• A. Hume
• B. Rousseau
• C. Kant
• D. Voltaire

Answer: (B)

Romantic thinkers emphasized emotion and instinct as guides to truth, pushing back against a reliance on logic alone. Among the figures listed, Jean-Jacques Rousseau is the one who most clearly argued that reason by itself can mislead and that feeling, sentiment, and a close relationship with nature should shape how people live, learn, and organize society. He contends that civilization and excessive rationality distort natural goodness, so education and politics should cultivate sympathy and the inner life as well as intellect. This stance helped orient Romanticism toward imagination, emotion, and the primacy of personal experience over abstract calculation. While the other figures are closely associated with Enlightenment ideals of reason and universal principles, Rousseau’s writings provided the bridge to the Romantic critique of a purely logical approach.