Emile
By Jean-Jacques Rousseau
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Introduction by P. D. Jimack
Professor of French, University of Stirling
From the moment of its first appearance in 1762, Émile began to exercise a profound influence on both the theory and practice of education in many different countries, and seems to have aroused enthusiasm among the general educated public.
It was only unfortunate that the violence of the initial reaction, provoked largely by Rousseau’s religious views, tended to distract attention from the educational aspect of the book. Two hundred years later it has still not been left behind, and it is doubtful whether any major educational reformer has not in some neasure drawn inspiration from it. Indeed, recent critics have demonstrated that many of Rousseau’s principles, particularly on the psychology of learning, anticipate uncannily the findings of modern scientific investigators.
While there was no lack in the eighteenth century of works containing useful and enlightened practical precepts, Emile’s originality lay in its very impracticability- Rousseau’s refusal to limit his vision to details, and his insistence on the need to examine critically the very foundations upon which all educational practice must be based. It is this overall conception which has had such a profound influence on subsequent thinkers and made mile one of the most stimulating and fruitful works on education ever written.
For this edition Professor Jimack has provided a new long introduction which describes both the significance of Emile in relation to Rousseau’s own life and thought and its effect on subsequent educational thinking.
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