The Anti-Emile: Reflections on the Theory and Practice of Education against the Principles of Rousseau

by H. S. Gerdil, William A. Frank (Translator), Rocco Buttiglione (Preface by)

Overview

A timely translation of a compelling 18th-century critique of Rousseau by the neglected Italian author, Hyacinth S. Gerdil (1718-1802). Gerdil’s Anti-Emile may have been written as a critique of Rousseau’s Emile, but it can equally be read as a critique of the philosophy embraced by the American educational establishment. Through the influence of John Dewey, Rousseau came to inform much of the educational theory regnant in the United States, with disastrous consequences now acknowledged by nearly all. 
     In a valuable preface to his translation, Professor Frank, drawing upon his experience both here and abroad, not only places Emile in context, but defends Gerdil’s time-transcending, classical view of education against its modern detractors.
     “Gerdil,” Frank tells us, “addressed his Anti-Emile to elders responsible for education, be they parents, teachers, or political authorities, who might find themselves swayed by the powerful rhetoric of Rousseau’s Emile.” The same may be said of this translation and its informative prefatory material, for it is clearly a study that will be valued by anyone interested in principled education. - Jude P. Dougherty, Catholic University of America
 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781587310362
Publisher:	St. Augustine's Press
Publication date:	11/30/2011
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	224
Sales rank:	830,811
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.90(d)

Table of Contents

Preface
Part One. Theoretical Reflections on the Principles of Human Nature
1. Rousseau’s seductive rhetoric
2. Emile is an unreal abstraction
3. Whether contrariety is part of man’s original nature
4. Whether the self is ordered to others selves from the beginning
5. Whether self-interest is a sufficient foundation for moral social relationships
6. Love of honor and the attraction to an idea of perfection are natural inclinations
7. The attraction to moral virtue is a natural inclination
8. Whether society corrupts man’s natural goodness
9. Whether society invents the fear of death and makes men cowards
10. Whether laws and society reduce man to a servile state of dependency
1l. On the natural love of order and origins of society
12. Man’s reason, the natural analogue to animal instinct, requires education
13. Whether children are capable of understanding moral categories
14. On the importance of the fear of God in the moral education of children
15.On the authority of fathers and the obedience of children
Part Two. Reflections on Particular Educational Practices, and Most Especially on Matters of Curriculum
16. On reasoning with children
17. Rousseau’s dialogue misrepresents how to reason morally with a child.
18. On a child’s capacity for handling ideas
19. On teaching fables
20. On the study of languages, and especially Latin
21. On the study of history
22. On the study of geography
23. On the study of geometry
24. Francis Bacon’s observations on studying and reading
25. The intellectual temperament of Rousseau’s student
26. On the native climate of the ideal student
27. On the ideal student’s physical constitution
28. On the social status of Rousseau’s student
29. Insufficiency of philosophy for forming a national ethos

Conclusion
Endnotes
Index