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A Study on Rousseau's The Idea of Nature
Philosophy of Education
2011,
(45), pp.125-160
DOI : 10.22918/pesk..45.201112.125
Publisher : The Philophy Of Education Society Of Korea
Research Area : Education
DOI : 10.22918/pesk..45.201112.125
Publisher : The Philophy Of Education Society Of Korea
Research Area : Education
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Lots of researchers have studied the meaning of nature by Rousseau. The idea of nature, however, is still one of the most controversial issues in studying Rousseau. This dissertation aims to examine the idea of nature on the historical context. The Ionions thought that nature itself circulates. Although they comprehended nature from the scientific point of view getting over the early myth, they thought nature from the view of hylozoism. The Pythagoreans claimed that whole the universe and nature is mystical and eternal. Nature has harmony in accordance with ratios of numbers. From their view human-being is microcosm while nature is macrocosm. Although Plato was affected by the Pythagoreans, he found the transcendence-theory instead of immanence-theory. He claimed that the material world as it seems to us is not the real world, but only an image or copy of the real world. Rousseau disagreed the modern idea of nature based on Enlightenment. He opposed rationality based on reason and rejected to regard nature as a huge machine. He borrowed ideas from the understanding of nature by ancient Greek. He was influenced by the Ionions, Pythagoreans, and Plato and he believed the power of nature organizing the order. Borrowing the macrocosm-microcosm model of ancient Greek, he claimed that human being has capacity to follow the order of nature. He insisted that human being has self love, compassion and perfectibility which are given from nature itself as a microcosm and thus he should be accorded to the order of nature as macrocosm.
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