Emile And Natural Education

Rousseau has an important role in the history of the western education. Generally speaking, his concept of education is the real start of modern education. For instance, his attention to the nature, and the probe into the inner compass of man, giving a basis on which Rousseau put forward a comprehensive discuss and examination about the probability of education. It is this big reason that his educational thoughts have a lasting influence on later times.On contrary, his criticism in Emile has not been searched on the same degree, which is about the crisis of the modernity of education. On one hand, there have been many thinkers and scholars who had done well in this field, whose harvest gave a sound ground to farther investigation. On the other hand, I find, however, through the closing reading of the text, we have ignored one inspective which Rousseau once had earnestly pointed out: that is, the dualism between the rural and the city, which has an impact on the opposition of natural education to civic education, natural man to civic. Through this perspective, this thesis tries to interpret the connotation of natural education and natural man under modernity, and by which uncovering the true face of Rousseau's educational philosophy.The thesis is comprised of four parts: the first part, on the direct reason why Rousseau brings forward natural education; the second will show the necessity and the probability of natural education, depending on the idea by which natural education relied and the educational course from the rural to the city; the third will explain the rich and deep thoughts of natural education and natural man from the four parts of freedom, happiness, morality and politics; the last one will disclaim the meaning of natural education under modernity by summing up the writings above.