Émile or On Education

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Émile or On Education ( French Émile ou De l'éducation ) is the main educational work of Jean-Jacques Rousseau from 1762.

content

Emile, Rousseau's pupil, is a healthy, moderately gifted boy from a wealthy family with Jean-Jacques (Rousseau's alter ego ) as his only tutor. This has set two goals for him: first, Emile to as an adult to be able to survive in civilization without taking on his person harm to others, he should be ready to take the social contract to close. This contract is supposed to secure the political order and all members of a society (ideally) have to agree to it. In order to be able to conclude the social contract, Emile must have experienced freedom, he must know what it means to obey himself when he obeys a law - because this is decided in the social contract with a view to the happiness of everyone. He must not be a slave to ambition, wrong needs and the opinion of others, otherwise he would not be able to terminate the social contract in the event of a violation of it and to regain his original rights - for this he must have learned about natural freedom beforehand. Hartmut von Hentig summarizes Rousseau's educational theory in seven “pedagogical principles”.

The fifth and final book is dedicated to the upbringing of a girl named Sophie, who Emile marries after completing his education.

Sophie's upbringing is similar to that of Emile. However, Sophie received a different education: she learned to sing, play the piano, sew and cook. Your job is to please your future husband and make life comfortable for him. The natural childlike curiosity of girls or young women should be killed because they are smart enough to divine secrets that are being kept from them and because they are smart enough to discover them.

The seven educational principles

The intrinsic value of childhood

“You have to see the adult as an adult and the child as a child,” says Rousseau. This means that childhood should not only be viewed as a transition stage to adulthood, should not be sacrificed to an uncertain future, but should be viewed as an independent, full life span.

Studying childhood

In the preface to Emile, Rousseau accuses his contemporaries: “You don't know your childhood: with the wrong ideas you have about it, the more you get lost the further you go.” You try to get out of your child so quickly to make a citizen of society as possible. At the same time, the child is still much too “nature” and is initially focused on developing its senses, organs and limbs. If you start too early to suppress original feelings, inclinations, and needs with grafted ideals, acquired habits, and misunderstood duties, you will create a divided person and work against your own goals.

Negative upbringing

Negative parenting is primarily about preventing something from happening. It's not about gaining time, it's about losing it. The first education “must not instruct the child in virtue and truth, but must protect the heart from vice and the mind from error”. From the age of twelve, according to Rousseau, the child is able to open his mind to reason. Before that one should not approach it with moral ideas, but rather must educate it through the necessity of things. This results in a demoralization of pedagogy, in which nature takes over the role of educator. However, only to the extent that the educator brings about their influence in order to shape the child according to his wishes.

sexuality

In sex education , Rousseau held restrictive ideas. The child should be left in complete ignorance of sex and sexuality. After puberty, direct questions on the subject may be answered, but the educator should provide information as sparingly as possible and present the sexual organs and functions as repulsive, dangerous and strictly controlled parts of the human being.

Experiential learning

According to Rousseau, there are three kinds of teachers: nature, people and things. The former develops our abilities and powers, our fellow human beings teach us how to use them, and things educate us through the experience we have with them and through our perception. The task of the educator is to make sure that the three educators are in balance, otherwise the student would be badly educated and always at odds. The goal of education is that of nature itself; because things and people can at least partly be influenced, but nature cannot be influenced at all, which is why the other two must be aligned with it. For Rousseau, renouncing power over the pupil is elementary: “Never command him or anything, whatever it may be. (...) He only needs to know that he is weak and that you are strong, that he is therefore necessarily dependent on you ”. This leads to a healthy relationship between him and the educator and avoids the usual power relationship with submission of the student. All compulsion should be replaced by necessity, which the child has more insight into: “With the bond of necessity one binds, drives or holds it back without it grumbling. The sheer power of things makes it docile and obedient ”. Rousseau criticizes the curricula of the time, which confront the learners with content that has no recognizable immediate meaning for them. However, this relation to one's own reality of life must be given if content is to be learned. This process of learning corresponds, as it were, to natural learning.

"If, according to the floor plan that I have started to design, one follows rules that are exactly the opposite of the usual ones, if one does not lead the mind of one's pupil ceaselessly into the distance, if one does not take it to other places, to other regions of the sky, to other centuries , to the furthest ends of the earth, yes to heaven, but rather strives to keep him always in himself and attentive to what concerns him directly, then one becomes to feel him, to keep and even to Finding judgment capable. This is the order of nature. "

Age-appropriate upbringing

The division of childhood and adolescence is derived from Rousseau's observations and describes four phases: childhood ( age of nature , birth up to the age of three), boyhood ( age of strength , up to the age of twelve), pre-puberty ( age of reason , twelve to fifteen) and puberty, also called adolescence - ( age of insight , up to the age of twenty). After graduation, Emile no longer needs his tutor, but he can stay with him as a friend.

The child who does not yet speak or who speaks imperfectly

  • You have to let him use his limited powers and not suppress his instinct for research.
  • He must be replaced by his lack of strength and assisted; however, this is limited to the satisfaction of the natural and necessary needs (nutrition, hygiene, protection ...).
  • Rousseau: “Human education begins with birth. Before he speaks, before he hears, he is already learning. Experience precedes teaching. "

The boy

  • This life span is reserved for physical exercise, dexterity and sharpening of awareness.
  • This is practically achieved through work, exploration, imitation and play, whereby the child is supposed to acquire his skills through independent activity, through trial and error.
  • The greatest value is placed on personal experience and the resulting understanding of the world.

The strengthened child before puberty

  • In this phase of life the awakening intellect and reason are addressed, i.e. that is, lessons and studies begin. But: “It is not about teaching him the sciences, but about taking pleasure in them in order to love them and teaching him the methods to be able to learn them when this preference is better developed. That is definitely a fundamental principle of any good upbringing. "
  • What's the point of that? "From now on, that is the sacred word that decides between him and me about everything we do in our life."
  • The goal at the end of this phase of life is a hard-working, moderate, strong, patient and, above all, judgmental child who has little but thorough knowledge of his own. The opposite of him are the "semi-educated", i.e. H. taught children of his age who deal with a lot (ancient languages, physics, history ...) but understand little.

The ripening period

  • The previously acting and thinking being now also becomes a loving and feeling one, and with this a new kind of dependency threatens: that of a loved one (previously the child only knew self-love ).
  • Passions that the child did not know before now threaten to overwhelm the youth; But how is it possible to cope with passion, that is, to love and to remain independent?

Rousseau's measures:

  1. The educator becomes the friend the pupil needs.
  2. Passions are robbed of their vehemence by exposure to such activities as sports, hunting and hiking.
  3. Along with self-love, pity is the second of the original impulses; it should be awakened and encouraged in the youth.
  4. The study of literature and history should allow the pupil in the role of the observer to learn to see people for what they are.
  5. The pupil is given terms, ideas and an idea of ​​the whole, that is, religion is brought closer.
  6. The educator chooses the pupil's mate with great care. He lets him get an idea of ​​her, and this imaginary ideal now becomes the comparison for every real woman.

Education to become a citizen

“Emile was not made to be lonely forever. As a member of a community, he has to fulfill its duties. ”The pupil, until now raised to be independent in solitude, should ultimately be able to conclude the social contract and exist in the community. The longing for a companion awakens in him, whereupon his educator lets him experience and cope with the preciousness and the problems of bonding among people in general with the help of a woman intended for him, which is in preparation for the large contractual community, society, which the pupils later should be received, serves. This includes knowledge of human nature, and it is no longer enough just to gain knowledge through reading, but rather it has to be tried out and applied. Therefore, the young person will embark on a longer journey through Europe, during which he will examine himself, concretize his wishes and ideas about the future. He compares the foreign with the home country in order to then be able to make a free choice. With which people, in which country does he want to build his existence and as a member of the community conclude the social contract?

The natural religion

The natural religion according to Rousseau is based on experiences and considerations that are accessible to all. Emile is not supposed to be forced into a worldview so that he can choose the one that his own opinion leads him to.

Publication history

As the bibliography shows, between the first publication of the work by Marc-Michel Rey (Amsterdam 1762) until the end of the 18th century there were 59 different editions in French and 21 publications in a foreign language. If you add the different print runs and deliveries, however, the number rises to 73 in French alone. After Rousseau's death, his friends formed the Société typographique de Genève to enable the final publication of his complete works, which, according to Rousseau's will, also his contained handwritten notes. The edition of this society was followed by ten further editions between 1780 and 1782, including three of the Émile alone.

The French Revolution marks a significant break in the history of publications. Afterwards, interest in Émile suddenly increased across Europe in all strata of the population (as evidenced by the different equipment qualities of the published books) . The only exception to this trend is England, which had already turned away from Rousseau before the revolution.

reception

The Archbishop of Paris Christophe de Beaumont attacked the Émile sharply; Rousseau fought back with a long, open letter that confirms and at the same time summarizes the main statements:

“As long as people have not made any comparisons and completely ignored their relationships to others, there is still no conscience. ... But as soon as people develop further ... keep your eyes on your own kind. You then see their mutual relationships, and also those of things among themselves. Then they take up conceptions that mean agreement, justice and order; they develop a feeling for what is morally good, and conscience gradually comes to life in them. Only then do they have virtues; and even if they continue to have vices, it is because their interests intersect and because their ambition is awakened as their knowledge spreads. "

Rousseau complains that Beaumont's polemic is only so effective because he has great means of power, which is why the two do not negotiate on an equal footing:

“If you were a private person like me, then I could summon you to a fair judgment. We would both sit there, I with my book and you with your pastoral letter, and you would surely be found guilty and convicted. But you occupy a position in which one does not need to be fair. "

One of the most pressing concerns of the French governments after the revolution was the reform of the education system and the creation of a public school system in general. At first glance, however, it seems paradoxical to consider the Émile for this, as it was rather an individual upbringing far removed from society. For Rousseau had considered it impossible to educate a man and a citizen at the same time; one has to choose between the two alternative educational goals. This can be understood against the background of the conviction that, for Rousseau, there is an inseparable organic connection between the moral nature of the individual and the public sphere of politics. If Rousseau keeps his pupil away from society, it is because society cannot be renewed. For the French revolutionaries, however, the new society needed a new person. And so the educational reformers and educators of the time took up the ideas and concepts of the Émile , even though they referred to a completely different situation. The Rousseauist educational theory was in competition with the liberal project of Condorcet . The fact that Rousseau eventually became a mythical figure of the French Revolution contributed even more to the fact that he was all the more eagerly quoted and invoked everywhere. A close reading of the relevant writings shows, however, that the most varied of doctrinal opinions invoked the Émile , whereby it can by no means be taken for granted that the authors concerned Rousseau's ideas, which often had to sound provocative to traditional pedagogy, in their authentic pedagogical meaning had taken over or even fully grasped it.

literature

  • Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Emil or about education. Ferdinand Schöningh, Paderborn 1971, ISBN 3-506-78062-X , countless issues before and after.
  • Jean-Jacques Rousseau: About Education. Selected and introduced by Rosemarie Wothge. Verlag Volk u. Wissen, Berlin 1958, introduction to RWS 9–30, especially on Émile ; from this excerpt, pp. 89–206.
  • Hartmut von Hentig : Rousseau or The Well-Ordered Freedom (= Beck's series 1596). CH Beck, Munich 2004, ISBN 3-406-51103-1 .
  • Alfred Schäfer : Jean-Jacques Rousseau. An educational portrait (= university pocket books 2287 pedagogy ). Beltz, Weinheim et al. 2002, ISBN 3-407-25263-3 .
  • Stefan Zweig : Introduction to a summarized edition of Jean-Jacques Rousseau's "Emil or About Education". In: Stefan Zweig: Encounters with books. Articles and introductions from the years 1902–1939 (= Fischer pocket books 2292). Edited and with a comment by Knut Beck. Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1983, ISBN 3-596-22292-3 , Chapter 24, ( E-Text ).

Web links

Wikisource: Émile, ou De l'éducation  - Sources and full texts (French)

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Text on the Internet: http://www.textlog.de/2350.html
  2. ^ 1971, p. 81
  3. ^ Emil, p. 76.
  4. ^ Emil, p. 72.
  5. ↑ Erwin J. Haeberle : The sexuality of man. Manual and atlas. German Translated by Ilse Drews
    de Gruyter, Berlin 1983 ISBN 3-11-008753-7
    2nd exp. Aufl., De Gruyter, Berlin 1985 ISBN 3-11-010694-9 , ISBN 3-11-010693-0 online edition
  6. ^ Emil, p. 70.
  7. ^ Emil, p. 71.
  8. ↑ Emile or from upbringing. In the German first transmission by Siegfried Schmitz. Düsseldorf 1997, Artemis and Winkler Verlag, p. 124
  9. ^ Emil, p. 38.
  10. ^ Emil, p. 172.
  11. ^ Emil, p. 352.
  12. ^ The diffusion of Emile in the eighteenth century . In: Jean Terrasse (ed.): Rousseau et l'éducation . Sherbrook 1984, pp. 116-125. / Bibliography of the writings of Jean Jacques Rousseau to 1800 . Oxford, Voltaire Foundation, 1989.
  13. ↑ The book was on sale in Paris at the end of May; the police there confiscated it at the beginning of June. On June 9, the “Supreme Court”, the Parlement , ordered the book burning of the plant. There is an arrest warrant for Rousseau, he fled, ultimately to Neuchâtel. On June 19, the “Articles of Association” and the “Émile” were burned in Geneva, and an arrest warrant was issued against its author.
  14. ^ Jo-Ann E. McEachern: La Révolution française et les éditions de l'Émile en France et à l'étranger . In: Robert Thiéry (ed.): Rousseau, l'Émile et la Révolution . Actes du colloque international de Montmorency. Universitas Paris. Ville de Montmorency 1992. ISBN 2-7400-0002-2 . P. 301.
  15. ↑ A major reason for this is his violent falling out with Hume during his short stay in England. Books on this subject are still very popular in England today. B. the factual novel Rousseau's Dog: Two Philosophers, a Quarrel and the End of All Reason by David Edmonds, John Eidinow. Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt , Stuttgart 2008, transl. Sonja Finck ISBN 3-421-04251-9
  16. ↑ La conscience est donc nulle dans lʼhomme qui nʼa rien comparé, et qui nʼa point vu ses rapports. … Quand, par un développement dont jʼai montré le progrès, les hommes commencent à jetter les yeux sur leurs semblables, ils commencent à voir leurs rapports et les rapports des choses, à prendre des idées de convenance, de justice et dʼordre; le beau moral commence à leur devenir sensible et la conscience agit. Alors ils ont des vertus; et sʼils ont aussi des vices, cʼest parce que leurs intérêts se croisent et que leur ambition sʼéveille, à mesure que leurs lumieres sʼétendent. After the edition online (PDF; 399 kB) p. 9, own translations - printed insufficient translations. Neuer Frankfurter Verlag, 1912, reprints 1978 a. ö. in der Schriften, 1, ed. Henning Ritter, Verlage Hanser, Ullstein, Fischer TB ISBN 3-596-26567-3 , pp. 497-589
  17. ↑ J.-JR: Œuvres complètes, Bibliothèque de la Pléiade , Paris 1959–1995, vol. 4, p. 1007
  18. ^ Jean Bloch: Emile et le débat révolutionnaire sur l'éducation publique . In: Robert Thiéry (ed.): Rousseau, l'Émile et la Révolution . Actes du colloque international de Montmorency. Universitas Paris. Ville de Montmorency 1992. ISBN 2-7400-0002-2 . P. 339.
  19. ↑ Peter Jimack: La théorie d'une éducation républicaine de Philippe Serane: imitation ou d'Emile refutation . In: Robert Thiéry (ed.): Rousseau, l'Émile et la Révolution . Actes du colloque international de Montmorency. Universitas Paris. Ville de Montmorency 1992. ISBN 2-7400-0002-2 . P. 363ff.