French philosopher is a broad term that encompasses many influential thinkers from the French Enlightenment period. Jean-Jacques Rousseau (8 letters) was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer who wrote extensively on the social contract and the importance of individual freedom. Jean-Paul Sartre (6 letters) was a French existentialist philosopher, novelist, and playwright who wrote about the meaninglessness of life and the importance of personal responsibility. Blaise Pascal (6 letters) was a mathematician, physicist, and religious philosopher who wrote about the existence of God and the nature of faith. Denis Diderot (7 letters) was an Enlightenment philosopher, art critic, and writer who wrote about the power of reason and the importance of free thought. Auguste Comte (5 letters) was a philosopher who developed the theory of positivism, which argued that knowledge should be based on scientific observation. Peter ABELARD (7 letters) was a scholastic philosopher who wrote about the relationship between faith and reason. Claude Henri de Saint-Simon (7 letters) was a utopian socialist who wrote about the need for a new social order based on meritocracy. Baron de Montesquieu (11 letters) was a political philosopher who wrote about the separation of powers and the importance of constitutional government.