This is to encourage his natural talents and help him develop his natural reason as a way to direct his passions rather than suppress them. Due to Rousseau’s criticisms of civilization and school education, Émile is educated alone by a tutor rather than in a school with other boys. The last book describes the upbringing of his perfect companion, Sophie. The first three focus on Émile’s childhood and the fourth focuses on his adolescence. É mile is a series of five books that describe Émile’s upbringing and education. As a result, the character Sophie was based on what he perceived to be the ideal woman rather than a woman that he loved. While Rousseau had strong opinions on the gender-specific roles of men and women in society, Rousseau himself never found his perfect match. He espoused a number of controversial ideas, including that education be used as a way to bring out the positive qualities of individuals. He wrote many popular books ranging from fiction to political theory. In 1742 he moved to Paris, France where he would become an influential writer and philosopher. Jean-Jacques Rousseau was born in Geneva, Switzerland in 1712. This essay highlights Rousseau’s philosophy of the importance of education, nature-based gender roles, and how education should differ between men and women. Sophie is educated to be governed by her husband. The last book in the series describes a young girl named Sophie who is his perfect match. With the help of his tutor, Émile is taught to be self-governing, choosing his own path and determining his own fate. É mile, or Treatise on Education ( Émile, ou De l’éducation) was an essay written by the French enlightened philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) that discussed what he envisioned as the ideal life and education of a young boy named Émile.

Rousseau and emile