Author(s): Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Cultural Studies

In his pioneering treatise on education the great French philosopher presented concepts that had a significant influence on the development of pedagogy, and yet many of his ideas still sound radical today. Written in reaction to the stultifying system of rote learning and memorisation prevalent throughout Europe in Rousseau's time, "Emile" is a utopian vision of child-centred education, full of the sentiments of Romanticism, which Rousseau himself inspired.