Emile (Vol. 1 and Vol. 2)

Author: Rousseau
Publisher:
Publishing Time: Not available
Features: Emile, or On Education, an important work by the French bourgeois democrat and outstanding Enlightenment thinker Rousseau (1712–1778). Written in 1757, it was first published in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, in 1762. When published, it caused a sensation throughout France and some bourgeois countries in Western Europe, with a profound impact. This book is not only Rousseau's monograph on bourgeois education but also his renowned work expounding bourgeois social and political thought. Following the bourgeois revolutions in the Netherlands and England in the 16th and 17th centuries, 18th-century Western Europe was in a period of increasingly developed and expanding capitalist economy, with feudal society on the brink of collapse and deeper bourgeois revolutions about to occur. This situation was particularly evident in France. At that time, France was a backward feudal autocracy, and Louis XIV's arrogant maxim, "L'état, c'est moi" (The state is me), reflected this autocratic regime. Feudal nobles and clergy, relying on feudal monarchy and the divine right of kings, imposed heavy oppression on the Third Estate, leaving the entire Third Estate, including the bourgeoisie, completely politically powerless. Economically, feudal nobles and clergy owned vast tracts of land and controlled fiscal and tax authority, brutally exploiting and plundering the Third Estate, especially the vast working masses of peasants and laborers. However, with the development of capitalist production, the economic power of the bourgeoisie grew, making it unbearable for them to tolerate such powerlessness. Opposing feudal oppression, overthrowing the monarchical autocracy, and removing obstacles to capitalist development became the common demand of the Third Estate. The works of Rousseau and other bourgeois Enlightenment thinkers reflected this demand. Emile, in particular, was Rousseau's effort to oppose the feudal education system and articulate his bourgeois educational ideas through the education of his hypothetical subject, Emile. Rousseau's educational thought stemmed from his natural philosophy. According to this philosophy, he believed that humans are born free and equal; in a natural state, everyone enjoys these inherent rights, but it was only after humans entered the civilized state that inequality, privilege, and servitude arose between individuals, causing them to lose their natural essence. To change this unreasonable situation, he advocated "natural education" for children, adapting to their natural development process. The purpose of education was to cultivate the "new man" for the bourgeois rational state. In Emile, Rousseau poured his ideals into nurturing this "new man." Rousseau's so-called natural education meant submitting to the eternal laws of nature and allowing the free development of the human body and mind. Therefore, he believed that the means of this education were life and practice, enabling children to acquire the knowledge they needed through direct sensory experience. He advocated the use of concrete teaching and visual teaching methods, opposing rote memorization of abstract texts. Rousseau's natural education, in the context where schools were subordinate to the church and religious dogmas constrained children's individual development, was undoubtedly of anti-feudal revolutionary progress. His yearning for bourgeois "individual liberation" was objectively in line with the demands of social progress at the time. His proposed methods of concrete teaching and visual teaching, though simple, had certain reference value. However, Rousseau was an idealist "deist," and his advocacy of "child-centered education" based on children's personal interests and curiosity, as well as his one-sided emphasis on allowing children to acquire knowledge through personal activities while neglecting systematic scientific and cultural education for children, paved the way for the later spread of pragmatic educational thought in capitalist countries. Closely linked to natural education, Rousseau also advocated labor education for children, as well as education in freedom, equality, and brotherly love, teaching them to acquire the means of livelihood, avoiding a parasitic life dependent on high-ranking officials and wealth, and not being enslaved by the powerful. They should enjoy the rights bestowed by nature freely, with all people being equal and helping one another. Rousseau believed that only through such education could children's minds be spared from the stifling influence of feudal religious prejudices, enabling them to develop early the ability to govern themselves and maintain their natural habits. When they grew into adulthood, they would be skilled in choosing a good system and, without servitude, could operate a small plot of land or workshop to seek their own happiness. Rousseau's educational ideas were undoubtedly a powerful critique of the feudal autocratic education and religious doctrines of the time, and they played a significant role in inspiring the Third Estate, especially the bourgeoisie, to rise against feudal autocracy. However, these educational methods were at most capable of cultivating a spontaneous small bourgeoisie. As Engels pointed out, "The great thinkers of the 18th century, like all their predecessors, could not go beyond the limitations imposed by their own time." Rousseau was no exception. Although his educational thought represented the interests and demands of the bourgeoisie and played a progressive role in opposing feudalism at the time, due to the limitations of his era and his own class, he did not understand the science of class and class struggle. Therefore, he did not understand that education had always been class-bound since the division of humanity into classes, serving the interests of a certain class. For this reason, his theory of natural education was later exploited by many monopolistic bourgeois educators, who hailed bourgeois education as "classless" and "apolitical," serving the imperialist deception of the working people. This book is divided into five volumes. Based on the age of children, Rousseau proposed principles, content, and methods of education for different age groups. In the first volume, he focuses on physical education for infants under two years old to ensure their natural development. In the second volume, he believed that children between two and twelve years old were still in a state of intellectual slumber, lacking the ability to think, and therefore advocated sensory education for this age group. In the third volume, he argued that adolescents between twelve and fifteen, having gained some experience through sensory perception, should primarily receive intellectual education. In the fourth volume, he believed that young people between fifteen and twenty were beginning to enter society, so he primarily discussed moral education for them. In the fifth volume, he argued that due to the needs of natural development, he primarily discussed education for girls and love education for young men and women. Rousseau's idea of dividing education into stages based on age characteristics was undoubtedly a major progress in the history of education, offering invaluable insights for the later development of bourgeois pedagogy, especially for the development of educational psychology. However, it should be noted that this division and the method of teaching physical, intellectual, and moral education separately were unscientific. Emile also had a certain influence on the educational circles of China. As early as 1923, it was translated into Chinese from an English abridged version by Wei Zhaoji and published by the Commercial Press. This edition is based on the full French original and is published in two volumes. To balance the length of the two volumes, the part of the fourth volume on "Freedom of Conscience" and beyond has been included in the second volume. An appendix includes a chronology of Rousseau's life and a glossary of names and place names for reference.