Despite receiving harsh criticism since its publication, Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Emile, or On Education remains an interesting exploration of philosophy. Rousseau borrows upon the philosophical method of exploring ideas through theoretical narratives and places his discussion of education onto his fictional subject, young Emile. He outlines a method of education, through various development stages, which is designed to raise into an upstanding citizen of superior ethics. For Rousseau, however, ethics apply solely to society, meaning he promotes ethical standards which benefit society as a whole.
Much criticism has been leveled at Rousseau's treatment of the education of women in this book. First, the reader must consider the context of the book. In the 18th century, Rousseau's beliefs about gender roles were neither radical nor hateful, but in the 21st century they appear to be both. Naturally modern readers must consider Rousseau's opinions of female inferiority as products of ignorance. The fifth section of the book in which Rousseau discusses Sophie's education is also his most cavalier. Paying no attention to logic, he outlines an education for girls which enables them only to be suitable housewives, the ultimate value of women in his culture.
Emil, or On Education is one of Rousseau's more well-known books because of the controversy surrounding it's reactionary banning. French and Genevan governments burned the book in public when it was first published because of Rousseau's section on the "Savoyard Vicar," who speaks a forbidden dialect of French. Not only did the governments dislike the vicar's speech, but they did not agree with Rousseau's treatment of religious education. His ideas were labeled radical and dismissed, until the proletariat class in France overthrew the aristocracy in the French Revolution. These largely uneducated peoples, needing a theory by which to command cooperation among the masses, turned to Rousseau for his direct discourse on effective society.
