本文试图对卢梭的《爱弥尔》予以一种全新的阐释。本文认为，以政治与教育之间的关系为切入点，以教育的立足点建立在政治共同体还是个人之上为标尺，可以把西方教育发展的历史划分为德性教育和自由教育两种范式。卢梭及其《爱弥尔》在教育史上的最大贡献在于实现了一场教育范式的根本性转换：从德性教育转向自由教育。这一转换构成了卢梭所实现的“教育上哥白尼革命”（杜威语）的灵魂，也构成了本文的中心线索。 全文共由六章组成。其中第一章是全文的导论。本章在对学界相关研究成果予以系统梳理的基础上，阐述了论文所要解决的根本问题、涉及的核心概念、写作的基本思路及运用的主要方法。第二章是全文的基础。本章首先考察了古典德性教育的传统，指出德性教育的核心理念是“德性中心论”，强调城邦共同体的优先地位。在此基础上，进一步揭示了德性教育的基本特征：一是按照城邦共同体的要求，寻求最能维护共同体正常运行的德性；二是按照理想德性的要求来教育个体，以使其成长为城邦所需要的公民。 第三章与第四章是全文的关键。第三章从时代条件和启蒙背景两个层面论述了卢梭提出自由教育范式，从而实现教育范式转换的客观条件。第四章在第三章的基础上，从哲学思想和人性论思想两个维度入手，进一步揭示了卢梭实现教育范式转换的主观条件。通过这两章的研究，解决了为什么卢梭能够实现教育范式的根本性转换的问题。从而为进一步论述卢梭自由教育范式的核心理念与实践运作机制奠定了基础。 第五章是全文的核心。本章从理论与实践两个层面论述了卢梭自由教育范式的核心理念与实践运作机制。从理论层面来看，自由教育思想的核心理念是“儿童中心论”，这就把古典德性教育所强调的共同体优先转化为个人（特别是儿童）优先；从实践层面来讲，自由教育思想确立了教育的两大原则：一是自然教育原则；二是消极教育原则。这两大原则的确立，从根本上扭转了古典德性教育的教育内容、教育模式与教育方法。 第六章是全文的归结点。本章在论述卢梭自由教育思想对马克思和杜威影响的基础上，从理论和实践两个维度具体阐述了卢梭自由教育思想对我国当前正在进行的素质教育改革所具有的重要意义。
The purpose of this dissertation aims to achieve a new interpretation of Emile by Rousseau. This article holds that, taking the relationship of politics and education as the cutting point and based on the assumption that the final purpose of education, the political community, is still centered on the individual, the history of western education can be divided into two paradigms: morale-oriented education and freedom-oriented model of education. The major contribution of Emile lies in its realization of a paradigm-shift in the history of education: from morale-oriented education to freedom-oriented education. At the same time this paradigm-shift in education is shaping and shaped by the change of philosophy and humanism: from the classical moral-oriented education model to Rousseau’ freedom of humanism. The above two shifts results in the Copernicus-style of educational revolution (Dewey) as well as the major clue of this dissertation. This dissertation is composed of six chapters. The first chapter is the introduction. In this part, the problem to be solved, as well as the basic concepts concerning this topic and the methodology are proposed based on the detailed review of related materials both in china and western intellectual world. The second chapter is the basis of this research. The main content of this chapter is to have a through examination of the classical moral-oriented educational model, and in this part we hold that the key principle of the classical morale-oriented educational model is the city-state based morale education of individual, and thus producing the state –needed citizen. Following the above discussion, the characteristics of the classical morale-oriented educational model are drawn out from the theoretical and practical perspectives: one is the emphasis of the city-state needed morale principle and another is the individual education based on the former principle.The third and fourth chapter is the key parts in this study. Chapter three discusses the practical conditions under which the new paradigm of education model is proposed; chapter four, on the other hand, starting from the philosophical and humanistic thoughts of Rousseau, tries to probe the deeper reasons why Rousseau, and not others propelled the formation of this paradigm-shift Based on the above discussion, we can conclude that it is both possible and necessary for Rousseau to lead this educational revolution, and this conclusion paves the way for the further discussion of his thought of education and the mechanism of this educational model. Chapter five is the core of this research. Following from the previous discussion, in this part, we discuss the key principles and mechanisms of the Rousseau’ educational paradigm from the theoretical and practical perspectives. The key principle of Rousseau’ thought in education is the establishment of “children-centeredness”, which causes the change from the morale-oriented educational model to individual-centered (especially for children) educational model. From the practical perspective, two major principles are established in Rousseau’ freedom-oriented educational thought: one is naturalism and another is passivism. The establishment of above two principles totally subverted the contents, model and method of the classical morale educational model. The last chapter, chapter six is the conclusion of this dissertation. In this part, we first discusses of the influences of Rousseau’ thoughts on Marx and Dewey, and then the practical significance of this kind of thought for our country’s comprehensive education is discussed from two theoretical and practical perspectives.
