Educational Philosophy in the French Enlightenment: From Nature to Second Nature

ISBN-13: 9780754662891 / Angielski / Twarda / 2010 / 314 str.

Natasha Gill

Opis

Though Emile is still considered the central pedagogical text of the French Enlightenment, a myriad of lesser-known thinkers paved the way for Rousseau's masterpiece. Natasha Gill traces the arc of these thinkers as they sought to reveal the correlation between early childhood experiences and the success or failure of social and political relations, and set the terms for the modern debate about the influence of nature and nurture in individual growth and collective life. Gill offers a comprehensive analysis of the rich cross-fertilization between educational and philosophical thought in the French Enlightenment. She begins by showing how in Some Thoughts Concerning Education John Locke set the stage for the French debate by transposing key themes from his philosophy into an educational context. Her treatment of the abbe Claude Fleury, the rector of the University of Paris Charles Rollin, and Swiss educator Jean-Pierre de Crousaz illustrates the extent to which early Enlightenment theorists reevaluated childhood and learning methods on the basis of sensationist psychology. Etienne-Gabriel Morelly, usually studied as a marginal thinker in the history of utopian thought, is here revealed as the most important precursor to Rousseau, and the first theorist to claim education as the vehicle through which individual liberation, social harmony and political unity could be achieved. Gill concludes with an analysis of the educational-philosophical dispute between Helvetius and Rousseau, and traces the influence of pedagogical theory on the political debate surrounding the expulsion of the Jesuits in 1762.

Spis treści

Introduction / Part 1 The Educational Philosophy of John Locke: Prologue: Locke's educational theory in relation to his philosophical and political thought / The natural external: Locke's Some Thoughts Concerning Edication / Locke: father of social engineering or champion of liberty in education? / Part 2 Early Enlightenment Educational Theory: Claude Fleury, Charles Rollin and Jean-Pierre de Crousaz: Prologue: some sources of French educational thought and the legacy of the Jesuits / Childhood and education in the works of Claude Fleury, Charles Rollin and Jean-Pierre de Crousaz / 'The limits of reform' and the concept of utility in Fleury, Rollin, Crousaz and Mme de Lambert / Part 3 The Educational Philosophy of Étienne-Gabriel Morelly: Prologue: educational theory at mid-century / Morelly and individual education Essai sur l'esprit humain / Morelly and social education Essai sur le coeur humain / Morelly and the politicization of education / Part 4 The Helvétius-Rousseau Controversy: Prologue: the scandal over Helvétius's De l'Esprit and the origins of the Helvétius-Rousseau controversy / Helvétius's De l'Esprit: the argument for full equality / Rousseau's Emile, Books I–III: individual education / Emile, Books IV–V, and Emile et Sophie, ou les solitaires: social and moral education / Part 5 The Crisis of 1762: 'Children Belong to the State': Prologue: the expulsion of the Jesuits and the educational reformers of the 1760s / The influence of educational-philosophical concepts on the reform plans of the 1760s / Conclusion: disciples and critics: the impact of French Enlightenment educational thought / Appendices / Works cited / Index

O autorze

Natasha Gill is research associate at Barnard College, Columbia University.