A Study of the Naturalistic View of Education and its Underlying Factors Based on Rousseau's Thoughts

Rousseau is considered one of the most prominent representatives of Enlightenment philosophy, who led education to new directions with his works and deeply impacted people's lifestyles. Therefore, the current research aims to explain Rousseau's point of view as a representative of naturalism in the field of education and the factors affecting it, and to achieve this, a descriptive-analytical method was used. In Rousseau's view, various factors impact human education and several stages can be considered for human development. The findings of the research showed that the central principle of Rousseau's educational philosophy is nature. From his point of view, children are noble noble savages who have a sense of right and wrong by nature and have natural plans for orderly and healthy growth. According to Rousseau, a person is virtuous at the beginning, and due to civilization and its effects, he is out of the natural state and moral vices appear. So, people achieve human values ​​from self-love with the help of natural education. Rousseau saw the child as innocent and considered childhood the most natural period of human development. Therefore, by emphasizing the natural, spontaneous, and necessary parts of a person's nature, he wished to return him to his childhood. Therefore, he gave up trying to change a person into a citizen of the state and believed that the law should be compatible with the natural force and spirit of the person.