JEAN JACQUES ROUSSEAU 1712
-
(AN, G1, G2, G3a)
xxxxxThe French
social philosopher and political theorist Jean Jacques Rousseau
was one of the most original thinkers of the 18th century. He made
his name with his Discourses on the Origins of
Inequality Among Mankind, a work of 1755, in which he
put forward his thesis that society had corrupted man. He called
for a “return to nature” and the simple virtues of the “noble
savage”. To achieve this aim, in 1762 he wrote his major
political treatise The Social Contract.
To free man from his chains and enable him to lead a moral life,
he put forward the idea of an agreement between the ruler and the
ruled. The ruler had to govern according to the “general will of
the people”, and the people had to obey in order to reap the
benefits. Another major work of 1762 was his Émile,
an enlightened work on education, in which he argued that a child
should be allowed to develop naturally. His advanced ideas made
him many enemies, and he spent some years in exile, but his
support for the rights of the common people sowed the seeds of the
French Revolution, and his emphasis on feeling over reason -
xxxxxFew men have had such an impact on the
society of their day as the
Frenchman Jean Jacques Rousseau. A social philosopher, political
theorist and eloquent writer, he was one of the greatest freethinkers
of the 18th century. His works made a major contribution to the
intellectual thought of his time, be it in politics, education or
social affairs. By challenging the whole structure of society, he
sowed the seeds of the French Revolution, whilst
in music and literature he helped to hasten
the development of the romantic movement. (Thexportrait
of Rousseau is by Maurice-
xxxxxRouseau was born in
Geneva. Sadly, his mother died a few days after his birth, and for
much of his childhood he was brought up by an aunt and uncle on his
mother's side. He began work as an engraver, but at the age
of 16 he ran away and was eventually taken in by Madame Louise de
Warens, a wealthy, intelligent woman of Chambery, Savoy. First
employed as a steward, he later became her lover, and stayed at her
country house, Les Charmettes, for the best part of nine years. She
did much to further his academic learning, particularly in
philosophy and music. In 1742 he went to Paris and took up work as a
music teacher and music copyist. It was here that he became a close
friend of the young philosophe Denis
Diderot and, at his invitation, contributed to the Encyclopédie
on the subject of music. In these articles, written at a time when
the music world was sharply divided between the merits of the new
Italian opera and the traditional French opera, Rousseau attacked
head-
xxxxxHis thesis received its
first airing in his prize-
xxxxxA follow-
xxxxxAnd the year 1762 also saw the publication
of Rousseau's other major work Émile.
Concerned with the theory of education, it was almost as controversial
as the Social Contract, and, in its own
sphere, was equally as influential. In this work, Rousseau again sees
the need to protect the child from the corrupting influences of
society. Humans are born good and this goodness must be nurtured and
developed. To do this a child must not be repressed, but allowed to
grow and develop naturally. At the same time, natural instincts must
be carefully channelled so that the child develops into a well-
xxxxxRousseau's unconventional views on the need to “return to nature” came in for some spiteful derision, alienating the authorities, the clergy, and many of his friends, including Voltaire, Diderot and a number of the other philosophers. Tormented by a persecution complex for much of his life, he was a man who made friends with difficulty and fell out with them at the slightest provocation. And matters became decidedly worse with the publication of The Social Contract. Needless to say, a work questioning the traditional structure of society, and defending the will of the masses against the divine right of kings, deeply alarmed the French government! And to this was added the hostility he aroused by his attack on Jansenism in Émile. He soon found himself assailed on all sides. He was obliged to get out of Paris and eventually France itself, and he spent the next eight years wandering about Europe as a fugitive. In 1765 his travels took him to England, where he was befriended by the Scottish philosopher David Hume (illustrated), but their friendship soon ended in a bitter quarrel, with both men publicly denouncing each other.
xxxxxRousseau returned to
France under an assumed name in 1770, and spent his last years
completing his Confessions, a remarkable
work of self-
xxxxxAs a champion of
individual freedom, and the advocate of
feeling and sentiment over reason and dogma, Rousseau's writings had
a profound influence on the development of romanticism
in the early 19th century, especially in
music, literature and philosophy. In education, too, his emphasis on
a more permissive, specialised approach to child care was to shape
the views of educators like the Swiss Johann Pestalozzi and the
German Friedrich Froebel. On the other hand, his political theory,
whilst certainly in favour of some form of democracy -
xxxxxIncidentally, the brilliant Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart admired Rousseau and based the text for his operetta Bastien und Bastienne on his Le Devin du village. ...…
xxxxx...... Thexidea of Rousseau's “noble savage” had been around as early as 1688 when the English writer Aphra Behn produced her novel Oroonoko. This told the story of an African prince sold into slavery. And in 1775 the idea received what appeared to be living proof with the arrival in England of the Tahitian Omai (illustrated), brought back by Cook's second expedition to the South Seas. A dignified young man with great charm and excellent manners, he was presented to the King and Queen and, before returning to his homeland the following year, was wined and dined in high society, and had his portrait painted by the artist Joshua Reynolds. ……
Xxxxx…… ThexGerman
educational reformer Johann Bernhard
Basedow leaned heavily upon Rousseau’s
enlightened theories on education. He was particularly impressed
with Émile, and this led to his own
four-
Acknowledgements
Rousseau: pastel,
after the French portrait painter Maurice Quentin de la Tour
(1704-
G3a-
Including:
Johann Pestalozzi
xxxxxA man greatly influenced
by Rousseau's ideas on education was the Swiss Johann
Pestalozzi (1746-
xxxxxA man much influenced by Rousseau's Émile
was the Swiss educator Johann Pestalozzi
(1746-
xxxxxA later attempt to found a boarding school
at Yverdon, near Neuchatel, opened in 1805, proved remarkably
successful. Students and teachers came from all over Europe to see his
revolutionary ideas put into practice. Here, subject matter, though
clearly of value, was seen as less important than the mental and
physical development of the child within a secure and loving
environment. Children needed to develop their faculties -
xxxxxUnfortunately, towards the end of his life a dispute broke out between the teachers at Yverdon, and the school was closed down in 1825. But as a result of the work achieved there, Pestalozzi's advanced teaching methods had a marked influence on education both in Europe and North America, particularly at elementary level and in teacher training. Among those who visited the school was the German educator Friedrich Froebel. As we shall see, he opened the world's first kindergarten in 1837 (W4), based to a large extent upon the methods he saw practised at Yverdon.
xxxxxIncidentally,
among those who visited Yverdon and were much impressed by
Pestalozzi’s teaching methods was the German philosopher and
educator Johann Friedrich Herbart (1776-