Category Archives: Rousseau

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What is knowledge?

Knowledge is defined as facts, information, and skill attained by a person through experience or education; the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject. Knowledge can be gained through almost anything. It can be gained through books and even experiences. My favorite type of knowledge is experience merely because when I gain knowledge through experience I gain an appreciation on the things that I am learning. “..Nature, men or from other things…the object of our study is man and his environment” (Rousseau, 2). Through Emile, the significance of experiencing is learning everything on your own and finding your own answers to your questions. In the schooling system, we are given classwork/however, answers and are taught by remembering formulas and lessons being taught. But this is memorizing not learning. Learning comes from within one’s self. It’s all about being an individual and learning on one’s own.

“Nature would have them children before they are men. If we try to invert this order we shall produce a forced fruit immature and flavourless, fruit which will be rotten before it is ripe; we shall have young doctors and old children” (Rousseau, 7). Rousseau is accentuating on the fact that in order to have intelligent children we must follow the order of education. Following the order of education, will allow the child to grow and learn and “ripe.”

Rousseau highlights how to teach children. Visually showing a child (learning based) has a significant impact rather than teaching from books.  When you visually show a child, they learn and actually have a better understanding of what is being taught. “…Never substitute the symbol for the thing signified, unless it is impossible to show the thing itself” (Rousseau 16.) Rousseau showcases this when Emilie and him were exploring a forest and were trying to find their way back home. Emile was tired and gave up. Nevertheless, Rousseau helped them find their way back. This experience helped Emile actually learn instead of forgetting what one learns if it was a lecture taught at home or school. “Teach by doing whenever you can, and only fall back upon words when doing is out of the question” (Rousseau 20). Experience plays a vital role on learning. Rousseau’s ideology is connected to Locke’s idea about experience.

Happiness of a children’s childhood is very important to Rousseau’s ideology. Every child may not live to become a man and therefore they should enjoy their childhood. Rousseau questions that why should we invest so much time in education if you don’t know if you will live another day. It takes bravery to choose the less taken, hard road and not regret the decisions we choose.

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The Schools and Their Value

In the eleventh chapter of Frankenstein, the monster begins reflecting on his earliest days of existence.  He talks about his discoveries, and everything that he taught himself amidst those early days of confusion and loneliness.  In relation to Emile, the basics of survival that the monster learns come from the school of nature, making decisions based on the torments of “hunger and thirst”.   His learning through experience proves to be incredibly important.  He lives and thrives off of instinct, and only upon encountering humans and their disgust towards does he learn from the school of man.  Again, he learns from the school of man; language, communication, guilt, once he begins observing the cottage and its inhabitants, proving that “all that we need when we come to man’s estate, is the gift of education” (Part One).   This part of the monsters education is vital if he is to be able to function in the realm of man.

Rousseau puts a great deal of emphasis on the school of nature.  In chapter twelve however, when the monster begins feeling lonely, sad, and isolated, it seems that the school and realm of man is the most valuable to him.  The school of nature, no matter how useful, will never teach him the benefits of social interaction and human relationships.

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Rousseau and Young Fredrick Douglas

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“We are born sensitive and from our birth onwards we are affected in various ways by our environment. As soon as we become conscious of our sensations we tend to seek or shun the things that cause them, at first because they are pleasant or unpleasant, then because they suit us or not, and at last because of judgments formed by means of the ideas of happiness and goodness which reason gives us. These tendencies gain strength and permanence with the growth of reason, but hindered by our habits they are more or less warped by our prejudices. Before this change they are what I call Nature within us.” (Rousseau 2)  Jean Jacques Rousseau is talking about how children absorb everything surrounding them. Everything they encounter effects their point of view and feelings. I believe this theory resonates with Fredrick Douglas’ childhood.

It starts with him being raised by his grandma. Young Fredrick was raised to fear the “Master”.  “… whose huge image on so many occasions haunted my childhood’s imagination.”(Fredrick 16)  Because of his big fear his grandma kept the date of his departure a secret.    He never met his mother so the only love he  knows is from his grandmother. Now, when he was sent away he was heart broken because his grandmother had tricked him and left. His mother would visit from time to time around the night. Of course, he was not deeply attached to his own mother but he noticed that even though she was going to get in trouble every time she visited, to her it didn’t matter because “That a true mother’s heart was hers and slavery had difficulty in paralyzing it with unmotherly difference.”(Fredrick 18) When she passed away he didn’t feel anything because those feelings never developed. He even says “I had to learn the value of my mother long after her death, and by witnessing the devotion of other mothers to their children.” By observing other mothers he ends up learning what he should have felt for his own. Rousseau would agree that he didn’t seek his mother because she wasn’t their to care for him when he was a baby.

One of the first observations Douglas made when he was little ,that opened his eyes to the cruelty of slavery and the heartlessness of his Master, was when a young slave woman came to ask for help. She was beaten up pretty bad, her face was covered in blood and all the Master said was that he ” believed she deserved every bit of it”. (Fredrick 27) Fredrick took the master’s actions as “stern, unnatural, violent.”(Fredrick 27) There were many other mistreated slaves that Fredrick witnessed. He observed, listened, and hated whippings. Some of his nights consisted of screams and shrieks from slaves being punished.  “Why am I a slave? Why are some people slaves, and others masters?  Was there ever a time this was not so? How did the relation commence?” ( Fredrick 29) All of his observations led him to question and hate slavery. Also when God, who supposedly made black people slaves and was a good man,  became involved he claims that  point blank it was against all his notions of goodness. (Fredrick 29) He was told many contradictions that did not satisfy his questions of why he was in this situation. All of these people and observations made a huge impact on his feelings as a child, which led him to develop a certain point of view and curiousity.

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Education without Man

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In the beginning of Emile,  Rousseau writes:

“We are born weak, we need strength; helpless, we need aid; foolish, we need reason. All that we lack at birth, all that we need when we come to man’s estate, is the gift of education. This education comes to us from nature, from men, or from things. The inner growth of our organs and faculties is the education of nature, the use we learn to make of this growth is the education of men, what we gain by our experience of our surroundings is the education of things” (1).

At birth we are small and weak, incapable of doing nearly anything for ourselves. The  only thing that helps us grow is education. Education is what makes it possible for us to grow not just in size but in intellect.

In Frankenstein, we see two examples of what happens when a subject receives too much of one certain type of education. Rousseau says that “education come to us from nature, from men, or from things… If their teaching conflicts, the scholar is ill-educated and will never be at peace with himself. ”

In Dr. Frankenstein, we see a man who is increasingly influenced by the education of man and his knowledge of the nature around him. “From this day natural philosophy, and particularly chemistry, in the most comprehensive sense of the term, became nearly my sole occupation (Frankenstein Vol. I, Ch III).”

Dr. Frankenstein’s obsession with the knowledge of nature through the education of man created an imbalance in hi education which resulted in his abnormal plans to create and eventually bring to life a creature against the norms of nature.

As Rousseau writes, “God makes all things good; man meddles with them and they become evil. He forces one soil to yield the products of another, one tree to bear another’s fruit (1). ” BY creating the monster, Dr. Frankenstein clearly goes against the norms of nature and against the education of nature by giving the monster limbs and organs that did not grow for his creation. As we can see here, from the beginning, the monster was destined to failure because his education through nature was manipulated right from the beginning. Although he did live most of his time out in the wild, he was unable to attain a proper education by man due to his abnormalities. Yes, its true that he was able to learn to speak and read like us, but because he lacked human interaction, he was unable to  know what to do with the emotions within himself.

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Nature Is An Open Classroom

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Rousseuau presents an interesting perspective on self-education in Emile: or A Treatise on Education. In this text, he uses Emile as an example of how a child should be brought up. He says “they retain sounds, form, sensation, but rarely ideas, and still more rarely relations.” (Rousseau, 11). Rousseuau believes that childhood is a time of happiness and joy, it is a time when physical education is most important. It is during the teenage years that a child should start to begin “formal” education.

Rousseuau mentions that although education is important, it should be accomplished through self-education. “…if every man’s fortune were so firmly grasped that he could never lose it, then the established method of education would have certain advantages; the child brought up to his own calling would never leave it, he could never have to face the difficulties of any other condition. (Rousseau 2)” Formal education is good when there are no problems but when something arises, formal education fails.

Rousseuau’s major point is that childhood is a time of physical education while older years require a form of self-education through curiosity. Learning through ones own means is most effective and will help solve problems that arise.

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Nature, Experience, and the World

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Nature, to Rousseau, is the most valuable aspect of the development of a person.   Nature, simply defined as “habit” on the second page of the text, is the default experience, something instilled in us since birth.  He goes on to state that education through nature is the one thing that keeps a person consistent, no matter where life takes him or her.  On the contrary, a formal education keeps someone stationary, and leaves them unable to adapt to the ever-changing conditions of life.  On page 15, he goes on to say that following nature will make a pupil unbiased in their social interactions, and that “he will ask it of a king as readily as of his servant; all men are equals in his eyes” (14).
Rousseau’s reference to the “book of nature” parallels Descartes’ “book of the world”, and Locke’s stance on “experience”.  Descartes’ presents the world as the ultimate teacher, and Locke says that experience is the ultimate medium of learning and education.  Descartes discusses how the “book of the world” granted him with not only a different kind of knowledge, but more of it in the most general sense.  Rousseau, like Descartes, implies that being well versed in the “book of nature” allows one to be more flexible and better off, regardless of their ability to process the burdens of the education system.  Locke, like Rousseau, believes that naturally we are better off, and that society shapes our experiences too much, making us too biased.

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Rousseau’s Ideal Upbringing

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In Emile: or A Treatise on Education, by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Rousseau talks about how one should be brought up through their childhood all the way to adulthood through his fictional character Emile. Rousseau’s view on how one should be brought up is that during childhood, it should be enjoyed, and not worrying about being taught through education what is right and what is wrong. “Love childhood, indulge its sports, its pleasures, its delightful instincts. Who has not sometimes regretted that age when laughter was ever on the lips, and when the heart was ever at peace?” (Rousseau 4/5). Childhood is when one should have no worries or stress in life, but rather just nothing but happiness and joy.

Rousseau goes on to talk about that when one enters their teenage years, they should become more educated. However, they should not become more educated by being taught, but rather by teaching themselves based on their curiosity.

“Teach your scholar to observe the phenomena of nature; you will soon rouse his curiosity, but if you would have it grow, do not be in too great a hurry to satisfy this curiosity. Put the problems before him and let him solve them himself. Let him know nothing because you have told him, but because he has learnt it for himself. Let him not be taught science, let him discover it.” (Rousseau 15).

What Rousseau is saying is that one needs to become educated in what they are interested about. If one is presented with a problem before themselves and they don’t know how to answer it, they must teach themselves what the answer is on their own. Self educating based on curiosities will lead to one to be more educated about life.

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Ideology of Rousseau and Descartes

Rene Descartes spent many years after receiving his formal education traveling
the world. He gathered experiences and fed his curiosity. Through his journeys, Descartes states his travels as ”an undertaking which was accompanied with greater success than it would have been had I never quitted my country or my books” (Descartes 6). Descartes obtained knowledge through first-hand experiences, such as listening to speakers and witnessing several different situations. That concept of gathering experience goes hand in hand with an idea from Jean Jacques Rousseau’s text “Emile.”

From the excerpt of “Emile” that we have read, Rousseau and Descartes have a similar idea. Rousseau states: “The child who reads cease to think, he only reads, he is acquiring words no knowledge” (Rousseau 14). In a sense, reading does not necessarily educate a reader. In fact, education and learning come in a different manner. If one  “wish[es] to teach this child geography and you provide him with globes, spheres and maps… why not begin by showing him the real thing so that he may at least know what you are talking about” (Rousseau 15). This differentiates knowledge obtained from books and what one can potentially learned from experience. It is one thing to know what a mountain is and define it, but it is another to see what a mountain is in person. The experiences are different, and it enhances your understanding of what a real mountain is. Only so much of the true experience can be conveyed by words.

In able to fully grasp an understanding, one must experience it personally, and I believe both philosophers agree on this statement. From the quotes of both Descartes and Rousseau, their points complement one another. Rousseau presents the idea of self-learning. We should learn from experience to truly understand a subject. Descartes is the proof of success of the theory. Descartes actually went traveled and learned. From Descartes’ studies, he found that: “For it occurred to me that I should find much more truth in the reasonings of each individual” (Descartes 6). With more validity and accuracy in personal accounts it leads to Rousseau’s argument:  “[we] will be a mere plaything of other people’s thoughts” (15). If we were to accept all the ideas of others, we would not be ourselves nor would we be learning.

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Rousseau & Emile

In Emile: or A Treatise on education, Rousseau says for a child to grow up healthy is to live in a state of nature and not be pressured. It emphasizes that children shouldn’t have to deal with formal education and strict regulations. Children should be allowed to explore the world and learn from the things they see and experience. Children should enjoy their adolescence days and not be pressured to learn everything so quickly. They should take their time to learn and experience things. “Nature would have them children before they are men. If we try to invert this order we shall produce a forced fruit immature and flavourless, fruit which will be rotten before it is ripe; we shall have young doctors and old children” (Rousseau, 7). Rousseau is accentuating on the fact that in order to have intelligent children we must follow the order of education. Following the order of education, will allow the child to grow and learn and “ripe.”

Rousseau highlights how to teach children. Visually showing a child (learning based) has a significant impact rather than teaching from books.  When you visually show a child, they learn and actually have a better understanding of what is being taught. “…Never substitute the symbol for the thing signified, unless it is impossible to show the thing itself” (Rousseau 16.) Rousseau showcases this when Emilie and him were exploring a forest and were trying to find their way back home. Emile was tired and gave up. Nevertheless, Rousseau helped them find their way back. This experience helped Emile actually learn instead of forgetting what one learns if it was a lecture taught at home or school. “Teach by doing whenever you can, and only fall back upon words when doing is out of the question” (Rousseau 20). Experience plays a vital role on learning. Rousseau’s ideology is connected to Locke’s idea about experience.

Happiness of a children’s childhood is very important to Rousseau’s ideology. Every child may not live to become a man and therefore they should enjoy their childhood. Rousseau questions that why should we invest so much time in education if you don’t know if you will live another day. It takes bravery to choose the less taken, hard road and not regret the decisions we choose.