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Emile

3.59 of 5 stars 3.59 · rating details · 1,482 ratings · 103 reviews

Our inner conflicts are caused by these contradictions. Drawn this way by nature and that way by man, compelled to yield to both forces, we make a compromise and reach neither goal. We go through life, struggling and hesitating, and die before we have found peace, useless alike to ourselves and to others.

Paperback, 372 pages

Published June 1st 2004 by Kessinger Publishing (first published 1762)

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Aug 26, 2007 John Warner rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: careful readers

Shelves: favoritebooks

this book is difficult to understand and hence easy to dismiss. many of the other reviews bear witness to this in the most immediate way. emile is not an instructional manual on how to educate a child, nor is it a misogynistic tract that insists on the inferiority of women. these suggestions fail to engage this work precisely where it becomes interesting.

Emile is, and was intended to be, the modern equivalent to Plato's Republic. It is a synoptic book, a sustained, comprehensive, and unified ref...more

7 likes · like · see review

Clif Your comments are fair enough, John, but for the modern reader, like me, not steeped in the classical education that was expected of most readers in R...more
24 oct. 17:13

John Warner hi clif, thanks for your comments. i take your point, and i do think the book can be read profitably in a number of different ways. in fact, rousseau'...more
01 nov. 13:33

Patrice I think Huckleberry Finn was Mark Twain's Emile.
19 mai 02:28

May 21, 2013 Lona added it · review of another edition

في البدء أحب أن أذكر أن جان جاك روسو قد عمل مرة في حياته مربياً لطفل من طبقة النبلاء ولكن التجربة لم تستمر وباءت بالفشل، وأيضاً كان قد تخلى أن أبناءة الخمسة فور ولادتهم للملاجئ بدون أن يترك علامة أو دليل يُمَكِّنه من الرجوع لهم يوماً ما، فلم يستطع أحد معرفة مصيرهم ... فأغلب المتتبعين لحياته يعتقدون أن هذا الكتاب كان نوعاً من التكفير عن الذنب لتخليه عن دوره كأب أو محاولة لتدوين أفضل أسلوب للتربية بعد تحليله لفشل تجربته كمربي ... ولمن أراد أن يعرف أكثر عن حياته أنصحه بقراءة اعترافاته "اعترافات جا...more في البدء أحب أن أذكر أن جان جاك روسو قد عمل مرة في حياته مربياً لطفل من طبقة النبلاء ولكن التجربة لم تستمر وباءت بالفشل، وأيضاً كان قد تخلى أن أبناءة الخمسة فور ولادتهم للملاجئ بدون أن يترك علامة أو دليل يُمَكِّنه من الرجوع لهم يوماً ما، فلم يستطع أحد معرفة مصيرهم ... فأغلب المتتبعين لحياته يعتقدون أن هذا الكتاب كان نوعاً من التكفير عن الذنب لتخليه عن دوره كأب أو محاولة لتدوين أفضل أسلوب للتربية بعد تحليله لفشل تجربته كمربي ... ولمن أراد أن يعرف أكثر عن حياته أنصحه بقراءة اعترافاته "اعترافات جان جاك روسو"

بالنسبة للكتاب:-

مُرَبي يتفرغ لتربية الطفل "إميل" من المهد إلى الرشد، ولكن أي طفل؟ خصَّ جان جاك روسو أطفال الأغنياء بذلك فأطفال الفقراء والقرى الطبيعة كفيلة بتربيتهم !! ..

ركز في أسلوب تربيته على أهمية تعزيز التجربة لترسيخ المعلومة و استكشاف جدوى العلم بالتطبيق العملي للتجارب والبحث عن استخداماته في واقع الحياة، والإجابة على الأسئلة بإجابات تثير الفضول ولا تشبعه لاستثارة ملكة التفكير .. وهذه الطريقة تعتبر غريبة وثورية في عصره الذي يركز على اللغات، التاريخ والدين أي العلم النظري

عدم قناعته بدراسة اللغات، العلم النظري والقراءة التي يعتبرها حشو الأدمغة بمعلومات ليست ضرورية لحياة الشخص، ويتضح ذلك في قوله "لن أترك بيد إميل إلا كتاب روبنسون كروزو لأنه رجل عمل بمفرده على حفظ حياته" ... (وبعيداً عن هذا الكتاب الغريب أن أغلب إبداعات جان جاك الأدبية جاءت كتحصيل حاصل لشغفه بالقراءة .. فمنذ الصغر كان والده يقرأ له الكثير من مكتبة الوالدة وكانت الكتب أكبر من سنه فغَّدت ملكه الخيال والإبداع عنده ) ونجد في هذا الكتاب دعوته للتأمل في الطبيعة والتفكير عوضاً عن القراءة

تكلم الكتاب في أغلبة (أكثر من ثلاثة أرباع الكتاب) عن تربية الذكور أما الإناث فتكلم عليهن فقط عندما كبر "أميل" وأصبح بحاجه لزوجه، والزوجة المثالية بنظر روسو تكلم عن نشأتها وتربيتها في الجزء الخامس من الكتاب وأطلق عليها اسم "صوفي" وهذه الجملة تعطي فكره عن صوفي "يجب أن تكون تربية النساء برمتها مرتبطة بالرجال. فإن واجبات النساء في جميع الأزمان هي إرضاء الرجال ونفعهم وتحري محبتهم وتكريمهم....إلخ" !!! ... وأيضاً "لا أحبذ أن تكون المرأة من صاحبات النبوغ فإن النبوغ سيخلق لها مجداً شخصياً يُغنيها عن التماس الفخر في انتسابها إلى زوجها وقيامها بواجب الأم والعقيلة وهذا السبب في أني أنادي بأن تبقى كل فتاة ذات نبوغ عانساً بغير زواج طول الحياة" .. لن أنتقد هذا الجزء لأنه يحتوي على السلبي والإيجابي مثل الجزء الخاص ب"إميل" وإن غلبت سلبيته

جان جاك روسو عاش يتيماً، فقيراً، مشرداً، غير مُوفق في علاقاته مع البشر ومطارداً بسبب أفكاره إلى أن مات .. أغلب المبدعين عاشوا حياة صعبة وعُرفت قيمتهم بعد موتهم وهو ليس بالاستثناء

لن أمنح الكتاب أي نجمه لأنه خارج نطاق التقييم بالنسبة لي لأنه كُتب في عصر غير عصرنا و يعتبر ثورياً بمحتواه وقتها، أما في عصرنا هذا قد استغرب ولا أتَّفق مع بعض مما جاء فيه و شدني وأعجبني بعضه، فالخطوط العريضة لأساليب التربية كتبت بطريقة جميلة جداً .. الكتاب أمتعني كثيراً .. الترجمة موفقة جداً .. ولو كان التقييم مستند عل المتعة فقط لمنحته النجمات الخمس
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Jul 19, 2007 Kathryn Cantrell rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: mysoginists?

Please read the last chapter first. If you can accept Rousseau at his most offensive, then maybe you should continue with the rest of the book. Personally, I'm enough of a feminist that I cannot stand this work. I have heard too much praise for this work by so many who haven't finished it (i.e. read Rousseau's treatment of Sophie) that I will refuse to discuss it altogether.

If you're of the "but, gender issues aside" persuasion, you should consider that at the time, there was enough feminist per...more

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Jan 30, 2011 Dominic rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classic-literature

Reading this tome was an equally delightful and discomforting one, as a lover of literature, great ideas, and feminist egalitarianism. On one hand, it is obvious that Rousseau was a true visionary (and a master of language). I am truly in awe of what he is trying to accomplish here. As a philosophical exercise of incredible scope, Emile is incredible. I couldn't help but ask myself, "Where are the visionaries of today?"

In another sense, though, it is certainly difficult to swallow Rousseau's mis...more

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Aug 19, 2008 Tory rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

For the most part, Rousseau kept me interested by his language (which he uses very thoughtfully and precisely) and by his extreme ideas and scenarios of a child's education/tutorship. Rousseau shows his creativity by analyzing everything down to the smallest detail and this perspective gave me enough lessons to learn.
The part I did not care much for was his last chapter on Sophie--which is a great name for an ideal woman, but she does not live up to her name of wisdom when it comes to her "role...more

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Feb 06, 2008 chris rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Rousseau had some very strange ideas about how to raise children, and how to teach them things. Wrapping kids in swaddling, controlling every aspect of their environment for an age, and then allowing them to learn through failure. This last was my favorite philosophy, one in which, unlike the children of today, he promoted that children be allowed to hurt themselves when they were at the right age, in order that they should learn how not to do stupid things. When I look at the lame, short, plast...more

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Dec 18, 2012 Tamar7 rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: philosophy

A society is composed of citizens. If you want a strong and virtuous society, you must start at ground zero; with the citizen, with the child. This book by Rousseau is, in my mind, his epic masterpiece(notice I say his masterpiece, not necessarily a philosophic masterpiece, though that argument could be made, I think). This work is an amalgamation of all his best ideas, presented by way of a young boy named Emile. If you could raise a child the 'right way', Rousseau's way, you would have a nat...more A society is composed of citizens. If you want a strong and virtuous society, you must start at ground zero; with the citizen, with the child. This book by Rousseau is, in my mind, his epic masterpiece(notice I say his masterpiece, not necessarily a philosophic masterpiece, though that argument could be made, I think). This work is an amalgamation of all his best ideas, presented by way of a young boy named Emile. If you could raise a child the 'right way', Rousseau's way, you would have a nation of citizens that would form a society that was moral, valued self-expression and had pride in their community. This book can be viewed as a figurative allegory or a literal guidebook for how to raise a child, as I believe Rousseau wrote it with both in mind.

It is also, and most importantly I think, a critique of modern society. Rousseau was a decidedly anti-enlightenment thinker and his harsh and stinging words about the state of modern society during that time cut to the bone. He thought courage, bravery, and love of community had been replaced with pseudo-intellectualism, office jobs and mothers who dropped their babies off to nannies and took no time to instill in them the values that would shape a strong and upstanding society. Of course, modernization of the world has its benefits and the argument could be made that Rousseau was a man caught up in a fantasy of romantic notions of warrior societies, reminiscent of Sparta or Rome. Societies such as those were dying and in their place new ways of thinking, scientific methods and distrust of religion were growing. Many at the time viewed him as a man fixated on a fantasy and his famous feud with Voltaire through public letters highlighted the struggle between the culture of old and new.

Even so, Rousseau's words ring true to this day. One doesn't have to look far to see that with all the conveniences of modern society, there has also been a softening of our minds and bodies that seems a disappointing outcome to the millions of years of hard work, innovation and struggle our ancestors went through to develop new and better ways of living. Rousseau asks us not to let that spark of humanity die out in favor of comfort, convenience, fancy words and modern entertainments. This is my absolute favorite work by him and one that has inspired me in my personal life like few other philosophic texts have. "I do not draw my rules from the principles of high philosophy, but find them written by nature with ineffaceable characters in the depth of my heart" - Rousseau, Emile (less)

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Dec 12, 2012 Trevor rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: education, philosophy

I recently read Durant’s The Story of Philosophy. In that he said that it was a pity that philosophy had become quite so obsessed with epistemology (worrying about how we think) rather than ethics (worrying about how we can live a good life). Durant saw a time in the not too distant future when philosophy would get over epistemology and become once more a kind of thinking persons self-help club. In many ways this book is a version of ‘how to live a good life’ – no, better, how to educate people...more

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Oct 24, 2010 Clif rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

If we want to produce a good man, how would we go about it? That's the problem that Rousseau presents himself in Emile.

In this lengthy work, no aspect of upbringing is overlooked. Starting with the health of the mother before she gives birth, we follow the course of a boy's life as he becomes a man and marries - all under the tutelage of Rousseau.

The basis of the upbringing is refreshing: a child must be allowed to follow his natural inclinations and do so in a natural setting away from the soci...more

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Feb 11, 2013 Lynn rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: a-classic, books-for-work, education, history-books, non-fiction, religious, travel

I believe it was good to read Emile or on Education as I am an educator and want to learn more about the history of education. I also think it is important to read a book by Enlightenment philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau. I think Rousseau made very good points on how he would educate his male ward, Emile. There would be lots of outings, observations and he would like to delay teaching Emile how to read until the boy understood. a purpose of it. Many high performing Scandinavian countries delay...more

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Jan 20, 2013 Dannielle rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Great book and still relevant in my opinion. I think society would be better off if we took his advice and raised our children ourselves instead of sending them off to daycare (or using midwives in his day). I also like the idea of teaching children in a more hands-on way (as he does with Emile), and not using shortcuts to teach science. We should teach children things that they find relevant to their lives and help them to understand how these things are relevant so they are motivated to learn....more

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Jun 21, 2008 Jillian rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: adult-non-fiction

If being an uneducated, ignorant, house-slave who lives to serve her lord and masters (aka her husband and children) comes so naturally to women, then why does Rousseau keep insisting that women need to be taught and indoctrinated with this "natural desire"?

While I am by no means a Betty Friedan or Mary Wollstonecraft, I found my stomach turning while reading this errant piece of sexist propaganda and I have a strong urge to burn this book!

3 likes · like · see review

Clif Jillian, you didn't say if you read the whole book. I, too, found his Sophie a dismaying portrait of a less-than-human-being. But, there are other par...more
24 oct. 17:27

Jillian Clif-
I read Emile in college for a political science class (I can't remember the name of the class now, but I do know it included the word "feminism")...more
08 mai 00:17

Robert 0 intellect
22 mar. 16:02

Jul 19, 2009 Leandra Cate rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I read this book many years ago in French lit and felt it to be full of profound new thoughts. I recently realized I had never read it in translation and got an English copy. My translation seems to be very bad - a 19th century translation I got cheap. I don't recommend the prometheus books 'great books in philosophy' series at all. With much of Rousseau's charming language lost, the awkwardness of his points is more evident. Still, it's almost creepy that two such dissimilar people (me and Rous...more

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Dec 24, 2009 Jim rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

How is it that the same book can at one and the same time be so fascinating and so wrong-headed? The author of Emile indicates that to bring up a child, the parent must be a lifelong tutor -- to the exclusion of any schools or spouses or relatives or anyone else. Rousseau deals with a fictional son named Emile. During the course of the book, he shows his influence from infancy to early marriage.

Perhaps such a controlling type of mentorship was possible only in a rural society; and Rousseau not o...more How is it that the same book can at one and the same time be so fascinating and so wrong-headed? The author of Emile indicates that to bring up a child, the parent must be a lifelong tutor -- to the exclusion of any schools or spouses or relatives or anyone else. Rousseau deals with a fictional son named Emile. During the course of the book, he shows his influence from infancy to early marriage.

Perhaps such a controlling type of mentorship was possible only in a rural society; and Rousseau not only confines himself to rural society, but he attacks urban society. As I sit here in Los Angeles, surrounded by 10 million other Angelenos, I must admit that such an education as Rousseau describes is not only impracticable, but it would give rise to early rebellion and a broken family.

Now, one asks is this the way that Rousseau raised his own children? Not at all: The sad fact is that the children that Rousseau fathered were all given up to orphanages, as described by the author in his Confessions.

So what then is the attraction of this book? For perhaps the first time in Western Civilization, a man of penetrating intellect has bothered to systematize education that is separate from religious influences. Rousseau gives a nod to religion, but he prefers natural religion, the religion of common sense. He attacks the whole notion of catechisms and learning by any other means than by deduction from observable facts.

Imagine to yourself Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin sitting thousands of miles away across the North Atlantic reading this book and dreaming of a new nation founded upon "inalienable rights." We all came from Rousseau. He was perhaps only a way station to life as we know it, but he was powerfully influential. A man of intellect and feeling, he was at the same time prey in his life to persecution and jealousy to which he massively overreacted.

I loved reading this book. It was a difficult read, but I feel a rewarding one. You see, I have always believed that one could learn as much from writers with whom one disagrees than from anyone else. Rousseau raises the right issues. It is just that he does not always provide the right solutions.
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Jan 27, 2009 Sandy rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

If only there was room in his world for little girls to be educated...

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Feb 10, 2013 Kate rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: st-john-s

So, you read this.... and you're going along and you get to a part where you go, "wow, that is brilliant. That just put into words what people have been trying to say for centuries." And they you read the next paragraph and you go, "Rousseau, you are out of your mind. I can't believe you just said that." And then you read a little more and go, "woah, if that's true we've been going about education so very, very badly."
And it goes on....

So, it's interesting. And surprisingly entertaining. And th...more

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Feb 27, 2013 Patrice rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Rousseau is a romantic. He admitted that his early readings of romance novels stayed with him all his life. He was also a bit crazy. Hume, his friend, said he was always a bit mad but in old age he crossed the line and died truly insane. But he was also very brilliant and I believe that America picked up on his ideas more than France or England. We really live in the age of Rousseau.

What was important to Rousseau? Equality. All people are equal. Is this realistic? I don't think so. But all peopl...more

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Dec 13, 2012 Hortense rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Absurdly, I am indebted, deeply indebted to this book. It was Rousseau's discussion of the feel of sensitized spaces between the surface of the skin and objects, like walls, when you are blind or have your eyes closed. I barely recalled it but the notion he expressed allowed me to learn to live without heat during the winter. All that has to be done is to attend to the sensitive area, the skin surface, the sharp aching; although it is alarming, it is also a superficial sensation. Pure surface, s...more

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Apr 24, 2013 ω∂⌊∂∂ Ibr∂him rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

لا يوجد أختلاف على أن جان جاك روسو يعتبر منن الأقطاب السياسية فى قيام الثورة الفرنسية بأفكاره انذاك و قيام الحركة التنورية بارائه و أفكاره فى هذا الكتاب تجسيد لفكره و تجربته الفريدة و الغريبة من نوعها القائمة على ان الانسان ولد بالفطرة بالخير و ليس بالشر
و مراحل التربية التى تحدث هنا من خلال كتاب ابميل تميل بشكل كبير الى السلبية

يرى ان الطفل يترك للطبيعة تعلمه حتى سن ال 12 عام ثم يتعلم من خلال العقل بعد
ذلك
و فى هذه الفترة يتعلم الامور الخاصة بالطبيعة مثل الماء و النار و الظلام و يقلل من الطب و...more

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Apr 30, 2007 Nosherwan Yasin added it · review of another edition

Shelves: books_i_need_to_finish

There are maybe 7 people in the world who understand this treatise on education, I don't think I am one of them yet.

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Jul 07, 2012 Emilie added it · review of another edition

Râler sur la crétinerie de Rousseau est totalement anachronique, mais je compte bien le faire parce que c'est l'impression générale que me laisse ce 'Traité d'éducation'.

Me voilà face à un classique dont le discours misogyne m'a donné plusieurs fois l'envie d'envoyer valser mon kindle. Qu'Émile soit un faire-valoir pour Jean-Jacques le Mentor Magnifique, ça va, on a pigé.

Que le 'beau sexe' s'en prenne plein la gueule, de la petite fille à la femme mûre, ça ne passe pas pour moi. Je sais qu'il...more

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Apr 23, 2013 Sophia rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Incredible dissertation by the great philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau. "Emile" has some pretty dense ideas about early education and how to properly raise a child so that they are their best adult self but these ideas are written in the form of a story centered on a young boy, Emile, and his caretaker, the Governor. While the book does deal with difficult philosophical notions, it isn't difficult to read and actually quite funny and enjoyable. I highly recommend this book for anyone who's inter...more

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Apr 21, 2013 Stuart Macalpine rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

At last I have actually read Emile rather than just reading extracts from it. It contains a vast amount of modern educational thinking, and is clearly the root of many of the best modern ideas about age appropriate constructivism, not that Rousseau would have called it that. It contains much nonsense which is understandable given the period in which it was written, but it also contains overwhelming wisdom and a quintessentially modern view of childhood. A brilliant text and a fantastic backbone...more

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Jul 16, 2012 Hayden K. rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Emile should be mandatory reading for anyone considering having children.

Most of the other reviews of this work reveal their authors' modern bias. Rousseau challenges the current ideology nearly as much as he challenged Enlightenment ideology and asks us to question attitudes we take for granted. Contrary to what many on this site may think the predominant 21st century cultural attitudes are not automatically superior to those that came before.

Rousseau's poetic language in Emile stirred my emo...more

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Apr 26, 2012 Nicole rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Nicole by: 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die

I enjoyed On Education - probably more than most of the List books from this era, although I'm not really sure I would classify it as fiction. It's much more in the philosophy genre. He has some interesting ideas about child rearing and education, some of which are very progressive for his time. A few of them I think would be worth implementing. (And quite a few that wouldn't be...)

I get that there's some controversy about Rousseau's misogynistic leanings, but I don't think you necessarily have...more

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Jan 27, 2013 Deborah Markus rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I read this book as research for a writing project of my own. Once finished, I had no idea how I ought to rate it.

There is some brilliant writing here, and I highlighted some eminently quotable passages. Certainly I can now understand why the French adore some of Rousseau's ideas about education.

But even if one can get past the irony of Rousseau the child-abandoner writing (in very smug tones!) how the young ought to be raised and educated, there's the little fact that he was sexist above and...more

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Dec 11, 2012 duchesskenni rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I'll admit, I glossed over the part on Sophie on I already knew from reading other French philosophers that it was not going to bode well. You don't even have to make it that far into the book to know what Rousseau thinks on the education of women. I used this book to write a term paper on the history of early childhood.

THE POSITIVES: against corporal punishment, treat children as children and not small adults, education of man vs. education of citizen (independent, critical thinking as opposed...more

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Jun 13, 2011 May added it · review of another edition

Shelves: f-l-french

I recognize that this is a classic of Rousseau literature and in many ways it's not bad for its time. But it is very hard for me to swallow, knowing how philosophy has advanced and having had the benefit of Plato's works, which Rousseau may not have had full liberty to, given when Plato was dug up. He is SO held within the structure of his time, which can be seen throughout in his biases and his assumptions on class, race, and gender. Painful to swallow if you are not in the majority on any of t...more

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Jan 12, 2011 James rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: bildungsroman, french-lit, u-of-chicago, philosophical-fiction

The work tackles fundamental political and philosophical questions about the relationship between the individual and society. It discusses how, in particular, the individual might retain what Rousseau saw as innate human goodness while remaining part of a corrupting collectivity. Its opening sentence: “Everything is good as it leaves the hands of the Author of things; everything degenerates in the hands of man.”
Rousseau seeks to describe a system of education that would enable the natural man he...more

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Oct 07, 2008 Mr. rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A deceptively simple text. Rousseau has distanced himself from the Social Contract and the concept of the noble savage here, and has decided to illustrate the principles of an education that will bring about `natural man.' Emile is his guinea pig, whom he allows to grow on his own accord. His governor and nurse impose nothing on him, and he is allowed to build and explore without any external authority, eventually choosing a vocation and place in society.

For Rousseau, the most important propert...more

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About Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Jean-Jacques Rousseau remains an important figure in the history of philosophy, both because of his contributions to political philosophy and moral psychology and because of his influence on later thinkers. Rousseau's own view of philosophy and philosophers was firmly negative, seeing philosophers as the post-hoc rationalizers of self-interest, as apologists for various forms of tyranny, and as pl...more Jean-Jacques Rousseau remains an important figure in the history of philosophy, both because of his contributions to political philosophy and moral psychology and because of his influence on later thinkers. Rousseau's own view of philosophy and philosophers was firmly negative, seeing philosophers as the post-hoc rationalizers of self-interest, as apologists for various forms of tyranny, and as playing a role in the alienation of the modern individual from humanity's natural impulse to compassion. The concern that dominates Rousseau's work is to find a way of preserving human freedom in a world where human beings are increasingly dependent on one another for the satisfaction of their needs. This concern has two dimensions: material and psychological, of which the latter has greater importance. In the modern world, human beings come to derive their very sense of self from the opinion of others, a fact which Rousseau sees as corrosive of freedom and destructive of individual authenticity. In his mature work, he principally explores two routes to achieving and protecting freedom: the first is a political one aimed at constructing political institutions that allow for the co-existence of free and equal citizens in a community where they themselves are sovereign; the second is a project for child development and education that fosters autonomy and avoids the development of the most destructive forms of self-interest. However, though Rousseau believes the co-existence of human beings in relations of equality and freedom is possible, he is consistently and overwhelmingly pessimistic that humanity will escape from a dystopia of alienation, oppression, and unfreedom. In addition to his contributions to philosophy, Rousseau was active as a composer and a music theorist, as the pioneer of modern autobiography, as a novelist, and as a botanist. Rousseau's appreciation of the wonders of nature and his stress on the importance of feeling and emotion made him an important influence on and anticipator of the romantic movement. To a very large extent, the interests and concerns that mark his philosophical work also inform these other activities, and Rousseau's contributions in ostensibly non-philosophical fields often serve to illuminate his philosophical commitments and arguments.
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“I would rather be a man of paradoxes than a man of prejudices.” — 76 people liked it

“إن ضعف الإنسان هو الذي يجعله إجتماعياً.وعناصر الشقاء المشتركة بيننا هي التي تدفع قلوبنا الى الإنسانية. فما كنا لنحس أننا مدينون للإنسانية بشيء لو لم نكن بشراً” — 10 people liked it

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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/202690.Emile?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348724433l/202690.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/202690.Emile?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Emile by Jean-Jacques Rousseau[/url]

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