Pedagogy as the foundation of political theory in Rousseau

an outline of the Enlightenment in education

Abstract

This article seeks – through a critical and explanatory analysis, based on bibliography studies of Rousseau's works, focusing mainly on Discourses and Emílio – to show how the concept of nature, in the perspective of the developed political and social theory by Rousseau, is consistent with that expressed in his pedagogical work. We intend to analyze the concept of nature when he thinks about the state of nature, the natural man and early childhood – the child Emílio – and then the civil state, the social man and the moral individual – the citizen – in order to rethink the purpose of educational action within a political project of society. By carefully exploring the political-social dimension with the pedagogical dimension in the reference works, it is possible to conclude that the pedagogical project, in Rousseau, is, at the same time, an alternative and complement to the politics agenda, and is therefore necessarily inscribed on the agenda of life in society.