ABSTRACT
This essay investigates Rousseau's concept of history as it is justified in the work Discourse on the origin and the foundations of inequality among men. The essay argues that this concept is neither specifically cyclic (old) or only linear (Christian and/or modern), but ambivalent, and that its original synthesis lies in the notion of perfectibilité (perfectibility). It is divided into three topics. The first one discusses some aspects of different intellectual sources, focusing on the confrontation between the cyclical and the linear concepts. The second seeks to address the specificity of Rousseau's concept of history, showing that, by going beyond both the cyclic and the linear concepts, he preserves important features of each of them in tension. In the third topic, the main points achieved by the argument are summarized, and I reflect on how Rousseau's notion of history influenced the educational project outlined in Émile.
KEYWORDS
history; education; human development