Human body and education in J. J. Rousseau: focussing on the discusses of public éducation

Abstract

This paper is part of a study performed to clarify certain aspects of primitive thought related to physical education (PE), as outlined in the work of Jean-Jacques Rousseau.
Some studies of Rousseau have focused on PE, but in my view these are not based on the positive foundation, and there is no reference to the term “physical education (éducation physique)” in his works. Nevertheless, it is possible to demonstrate connections between Rousseau and PE. It is evident that the “father of modern PE”, GutsMuths, was influenced by Rousseau, and many discussions in this field have, in fact, been based on Rousseau. This study focuses not on PE itself, but on a prototype concept that is recognizable in Rousseau's works.
For this purpose, this paper attempts to analyze the context, especially public education focusing on the human body. In general, the terms “human body (corps)” and “education (éducation)” are understood as the elements of PE, and discussion of public education can be seen as one of the bases of Rousseau's thoughts about education, containing some important descriptions about the human body.
The main points presented in this paper are as follow:
Body exercise (exercices corporels) in public education, which has been accepted as the “PE of Rousseau”, is an approach to education with two purposes: moral and physical. Exercise is based on “negative education” aiming at the “child”, which is one of the main concepts of Rousseau's education thought. Furthermore, some value is placed on the whole process, where public education goes on to developing patriotism (l'amour de la patrie) in children (i.e. future citizens). Finally, exercise, a method of education, is balanced between the demand for public education and the restriction imposed by negative education.