Freedom by force : a study of Émile
Wolff, Lili-Ann (2011)
Wolff, Lili-Ann
Åbo Akademi
2011
Julkaisu on tekijänoikeussäännösten alainen. Teosta voi lukea ja tulostaa henkilökohtaistakäyttöä varten. Käyttö kaupallisiin tarkoituksiin on kielletty.
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe201701241307
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe201701241307
Tiivistelmä
This thesis discusses Jean-Jacques Rousseau´s thoughts about education. Rousseau related his educational thoughts to what ‘human nature’ is and what it means to live in accordance with what is ‘natural’, but he also reflected on what it means to be a social creature living a civilized life. While Rousseau valued freedom highly, he struggled with an obvious contradiction that we still have not resolved, namely, how humans can solve their double roles as both free individuals and as citizens with common obligations. Furthermore, Rousseau’s concern was how to educate for autonomy while, at the same time, encouraging good citizenship. In Émile, or on Education, Rousseau draws a hypothetical picture of human education, an education he called negative, because it is more about holding back bad impulses than normatively encouraging good ones. In the Social Contract, Rousseau argues that because of the common good, those who do not want to be free, have to be forced to freedom. The education of the fictive pupil Émile deals with the problem of forcing for freedom, and this thesis focuses on the paradoxical challenge of promoting freedom by force.
The structure for the present resolution (or rather discussion) of this question follows the main motifs I have distinguished in Rousseau’s Émile. Obviously driven by many purposes, Rousseau’s educational endeavor is a complicated story intimately connected with the profound philosophical themes he presents in his other books. Rousseau’s purposes with Émile, as I understand them in this thesis, are as follows: He purposefully wanted to generate a transformation of the reader’s thinking; he eagerly participated in the educational discourse of his time; he wanted to contrast a more ideal type of education with the existing one; he made the importance of childhood more visible, he demonstrated social contradictions and injustices, advancing a vision of a better society; and finally, he worked out his picture of human nature in greater detail.
The outcome of this study is that we have to read Rousseau’s educational proposals, as exposed in Émile, and expanding on the main ideas in his other works, as an endless thought triggering exploration. We have to be ready to place ourselves into his imaginary landscapes, prepared to overcome our biases and misconceptions regarding what it means to be human and how to educate others, so they can live both free and responsible lives, caring about both themselves and each other.
The structure for the present resolution (or rather discussion) of this question follows the main motifs I have distinguished in Rousseau’s Émile. Obviously driven by many purposes, Rousseau’s educational endeavor is a complicated story intimately connected with the profound philosophical themes he presents in his other books. Rousseau’s purposes with Émile, as I understand them in this thesis, are as follows: He purposefully wanted to generate a transformation of the reader’s thinking; he eagerly participated in the educational discourse of his time; he wanted to contrast a more ideal type of education with the existing one; he made the importance of childhood more visible, he demonstrated social contradictions and injustices, advancing a vision of a better society; and finally, he worked out his picture of human nature in greater detail.
The outcome of this study is that we have to read Rousseau’s educational proposals, as exposed in Émile, and expanding on the main ideas in his other works, as an endless thought triggering exploration. We have to be ready to place ourselves into his imaginary landscapes, prepared to overcome our biases and misconceptions regarding what it means to be human and how to educate others, so they can live both free and responsible lives, caring about both themselves and each other.
Kokoelmat
- 611 Filosofia [21]