AbstractsEducation Research & Administration

Driven by a fascination with Jean-Jacques Rousseau and his novel, Emile or On Education, and inspired by the paradoxical behavior to be found in the Enlightment, this project asked whether the topic of gender inequality could be identified in one of Rousseau’s most famous works. Due to the continuing impact and importance of Enlightenment greats such as Rousseau, as well as the appar-ently unbanishable specter of gender inequality, this project is clearly relevant as more than just an academic exercise. Utilizing the dimensions of Text & Sign and Science & Philosophy, a literary analysis of Emile or On Education, along with an examination of Rousseau’s philosophy, life, his-torical time, and critical reception all lead to the conclusion that even writers as great and enduring as Jean-Jacques Rousseau can fall prey to prevailing mores of their era, regardless of how misguided those mores may appear to modern eyes.