Abstract

Jean-Jacques Rousseau is regarded as one of the most important figures of educational theory. Mainly, this is to be traced back to his work Émile ou de l’Education, which had a huge impact already in his lifetime and elaborates a fictive course of education aiming at individual independence from social expectations and norms. Against the background of the philosophical and political background of the Enlightenment, this chapter outlines the premises and key issues of Rousseau’s educational philosophy. This includes Rousseau’s anthropology and social theory while the main focus of this chapter directs at the educational course concerning the issues of Perfectibilité and the notion of human development, and in consequence the purposes and requirements of natural education. In conclusion, Rousseau’s influence on modern philosophy of education is shown by addressing Rousseau’s fundamental shift to individual education as well as by discussing the problems of power in educational relationships, paternalism and individualisation.