Sartrean Freedom and Responsibility in Rousseau’s Emile

Beljun P. Enaya; Al Franjon  Villaroya

doi:10.52006/main.v4i1.320

Beljun P. Enaya Visayas State University, Baybay City, Leyte, Philippines https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3506-1252
Al Franjon Villaroya Visayas State University, Baybay City, Leyte, Philippines https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6144-5335

DOI: https://doi.org/10.52006/main.v4i1.320

Keywords: Jean-Paul Sartre, freedom, responsibility, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, philosophy of education

Abstract

This paper discusses Jean-Paul Sartre's existentialist interpretation of Jean-Jacques Rousseau's philosophy of education, or Emile. It aims to show the Sartrean concept of freedom and responsibility in understanding education, as shown in Emile and his tutor's narrative. It utilizes Sartre’s significant works, such as Being and Nothingness, and Existentialism is Humanism, in explicating the Sartrean concept in Rousseau's book, Emile. Existentialist hermeneutics helps the paper to re-interpret the text of Emile. It argues that Rousseau's philosophy of education, as demonstrated by Emile and his tutor, implicitly manifests absolute freedom and responsibility in the learning process. Thus, this paper provides a Sartrean existentialist perspective of understanding Rosseau's Emile.