334 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



the Emile, and thereby caused perturbation in the minds of the burghers 

 accustomed to set their watches by the habits of the philosopher. Kant 

 himself bears witness to the fact that Eousseau and Hume were the two 

 thinkers who had most profoundly influenced him, and Eousseau's por- 

 trait was the one ornament of his study. The personal admiration of 

 Kant for Eousseau was undoubtedly profound. 



When we turn to discover specific evidence of the presence of Eous- 

 seau's theories in Kant's writings, the task is not so simple. Kant was 

 in no sense a disciple of Eousseau. Authorities differ widely as to how 

 much and what shall be assigned to Eousseau, from the general plan of 

 the three critiques to a few specific elements in the ethics. There 

 seems to be good evidence that Kant became interested in the problems 

 of man soon after he read Eousseau, or, as another puts it, that he took 

 from Eousseau his tendency to a democratic as opposed to an aristo- 

 cratic basis for morals. Wenley suggests that much of Kant's theology 

 may be found in " The Confessions of Faith of a Savoyard Vicar " 

 and the corresponding fourth book of Emile. Dieterich puts the 

 emphasis upon the similarities in the ethical systems, and would trace 

 the categorical imperative to Eousseau's doctrine of conscience and his 

 general tendency to find the seat of authority in man's own nature. 

 Superficially regarded, there seems little similarity between anything in 

 Eousseau and the categorical imperative, but careful historical exam- 

 ination makes a fair case for their kinship. Thus we find several points 

 at which the half-mad and altogether irresponsible Frenchman supplied 

 grist for the mill of the most staid of modern German philosophers. 



The influence of Eousseau upon Fichte and Schelling, both directly 

 and indirectly through Kant, was also considerable. We can not go 

 into details in the time at our disposal, but it is not too much to say 

 that it is possible to trace the influence of Eousseau's spirit and some 

 of his specific theories through a large part of modern philosophy. 



It is in education, however, that Eousseau's theories have been most 

 important. In later educational writers, we can find not merely pos- 

 sible traces of his way of thinking, but we can find his theories restated 

 over and over, often without credit, and always thinly veiled. Most of 

 the current educational theories can be matched in Eousseau. The 

 doctrine of interest, that a child should learn only as he becomes inter- 

 ested, is Eousseau's. We find fully developed in him the culture-epoch 

 theory and the doctrine of discipline by natural consequences usually 

 credited to Spencer. The reaction from mere book knowledge was also 

 made much of. Emile, it will be recalled, was not to know how to read 

 at twelve and then was to acquire knowledge at first hand as much as 

 possible. It is to Eousseau that we owe our vocational units. Eous- 

 seau's doctrines contributed largely to the development of later systems. 

 Pestalozzi and Froebel drew inspiration directly from him, and Herbart 



