Session Information
13 SES 03 A, Civilty and Freedom in Educational Theory
Paper Session
Contribution
Jean-Jacques Rousseau sketches a hypothetical educational proposal in his book Emile, or on education. Withthis proposal Rousseau wanted to challenge the established educational methods and describe a strategy that follows ’the course of nature’ and meets the request of the human heart. Rousseau valued freedom highly and he, therefore, struggled with an obvious paradox that we still have not succeeded to deal with successfully, namely how to educate the children for autonomy and at the same time make them appropriate citizens. He solves the problem with Emile by declaring that we have to choose to either create a human being or a citizen, while it is too difficult to combine these two aims. And he thus first embarks on the endeavor to educate Emile to an autonomously thinking and acting individual, and afterward to a citizen. Rousseau’s so called ‘negative’ education is, however, no one-way freedom for the child; it is a freedom that asks for mutual and equal recognition and it is, therefore, no trouble-free approach.
Despite a good intention, it is apparent that Rousseau’s educational theory incorporates not only paradoxes, but also many both normative and unequal elements. Consequently, Rousseau’s vision focuses on equality and justice, but he does not really do away with the authority, but the instruction seems to become an undisclosed control.
My intention with this study is, on the one hand, to discuss if it is possible to educate somebody for freedom, and, secondly, to discuss whether such an education is political or non-political. But, while Emile has been read in so many various ways, I will also discuss what Rousseau might have intended when he wrote Emile.
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Affeldt, S. G. (2006). The force of freedom: Rousseau on forcing to be free. In J. T. Scott. (Ed.). Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Critical assessments of leading political philosophers. Vol. III: Political principles and institutions (pp. 399-432). London: Routledge. (Original work published 1999) Bardy, M. (2001). Rousseaun Émile ja kantavat kysymykset ihmiseksi kasvamisessa. In R. Huhmarniemi, S. Skinnari & J. Tähtinen (Eds): Platonista transmodernismiin (pp. 133-154). Turku: Suomen Kasvatustieteellinen Seura. Compayré, G. J-J. (1953). Rousseau ja hänen kasvatusaatteensa. Transl. J. A. Hollo. Helsinki: WSOY. Dent, N. J. H. (1988). Rousseau. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. Gay, P. (1966). Age of Enlightenment. (In series “Great age of man: A history of the world’s cultures”). Amsterdam: Time-Life international. Gendler, T. S. (2002). Thought experiments. In Encyclopedia of cognitive science (pp. 388-394). New York/London: Nature/Routledge. Lähde, V. (2008). Rousseau’s rhetoric of ’nature’: A study on Discource on inequality. Tampere: University of Tampere. Plato. (1992). Republic. Trans. G. M. A. Grube. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, Inc. Rousseau, J-J. (1964). Ouvres complètes de Jean-Jacques Rousseau III. Du contrat social écrits politiques. Ed. M. Raymond & B. Gagnebin. Paris: Gallimard, bibliothèque de la Pléïade. OC III Rousseau, J-J. (1979). Emile or on education. Trans. A. Bloom. BasicBooks. Rousseau, J-J. (1997). Rousseau: The discourses and other early political writings. Trans. and ed. V. Gourevitch. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Rousseau, J-J. (2005). The social contract, A discource on the origin of inequality, A discourse on political economy. Trans. G. D. H. Cole. Stilwell, KS: Digireads.com Publishing. Salkaver, P. G. (1978). Rousseau and the concept of happiness. Polity 11 (1978), 27-45. Vanpée, J. (2006). Rousseau’s Emile ou de l’education: A resistance to reading. In J. T. Scott. (Ed.). Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Critical assessments of leading political philosophers. Vol. II: Human nature and history (pp. 207-224). London: Routledge. (Original work published 1990)
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