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jean-jacques rousseau in london |
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His book Émile was the
most significant book on education after Plato's Republic, and his other work
had a profound impact on political theory and practice, romanticism and the
development of the novel. He lived in England for 18 months.
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Rousseau's great work on
education, Émile,
drew on thinkers that had preceded him - for example, John Locke on teaching
- but he was able to pull together strands into a coherent and comprehensive
system - and by using the medium of the novel he was able to dramatize his
ideas and reach a very wide audience. He made, it can be argued, the
first comprehensive attempt to describe a system of education according to
what he saw as ‘nature’. His thinking certainly stresses wholeness and
harmony, and a concern for the person of the learner. Central to this was the
idea that it was possible to preserve the 'original perfect nature' of the
child by controlling their education and environment (based on an analysis of
the different physical and psychological stages through which they pass from
birth to maturity). This was a fundamental point. Rousseau argued that the
momentum for learning was provided by the growth of the person (nature) - and
that what the educator needed to do was to facilitate opportunities for
learning. He explored a comprehensive scheme of education (a fuller account
of which is given on Jean-Jaques Rousseau). The scale of his contribution
is indicated by Darling (1994) when he argued that the history of
child-centred educational theory is a series of footnotes to Rousseau. While in England, Rousseau was, in
Robert Wokler's (1995: 14) words, 'overwelmed by suspicions of an
international conspiracy to discredit his character, managing to bring great
misery upon himself, and much discomfort for Hume. Real persecution
compounded the paranoia with which he was undoubtedly afflicted... for the
rest of his life. While in England he started work on (and probably completed
Part One) The Confessions which is 'an important reference point in
the history of literature' (Matravers 1996: viii-ix) - Rousseau took
autobiography beyond the introspection of St. Augustine by 'tracing the
casual aspects of his character back to incidents in his childhood' (op cit). David Hume (1711-1776),
the Scottish philospher (perhaps best known for his Treatise of Human
Nature - first published in 1740) had spent a considerable amount of time
in France including being secretary to the British ambassador
(1763-1765). References
Matravers, D. (1996)
'Introduction' to Rousseau. The Confessions, London: Wordsworth. Wokler, R. (1996) Rousseau, Oxford: Oxford
University Press. This page is part
of our virtual walk around the history of informal
education (in central London).
Walking for real: If you
would like to do the informal education walk for real then why not join us on
our next scheduled walk. It's free! Follow the link for joining details.
Prepared by Mark K. Smith |