Presència de Rousseau a Catalunya: entre el mite i la realitat

Abstract

En aquest article s’ofereix un perfil del pensament de Rousseau a partir de la seva relació amb la filosofia estoica i la seva dependència respecte de les idees de Montaigne, alhora que es remarca —atenint-se a la Professió de fe del vicari savoià— la dimensió religiosa i espiritual de la seva cosmovisió. Sobre la base d’aquests supòsits es revisa l’impacte de les idees de Rousseau en el Romanticisme del segle xix, sense perdre de vista les crítiques que la seva pedagogia va merèixer dels ideòlegs del Noucentisme (Eugeni d’Ors, Joaquim Xirau). Finalment, es conclou que la presència de la pedagogia de Rousseau en el Moviment de Renovació Pedagògica, viscut durant les primeres dècades del segle xx a Catalunya, constitueix més un horitzó que no pas una realitat bastida sistemàticament i sòlidament.

This paper offers an overview of Rousseau’s thought, using as its starting point its relation with stoic philosophy and dependence on Montaigne’s ideas, while at the same time highlighting —in the light of the Profession of faith of a Savoyard vicar, one of his most salient texts, as Rousseau himself said— the religious and spiritual dimension of his world view. It should not be forgotten that Rousseau not only turned away from the philosophy of the Enlightenment but also from those who maintained materialistic and atheistic theses, advocating instead a natural religion. Given these factors, it is not surprising that pedagogic naturalism found fertile ground in Catalonia during the first years of the 20th century, as its adaptation facilitated the development of a spiritual philosophy that matched the views of many schoolteachers who conceived Nature as a living thing. Thus, its religious undertones and quest for a natural life, without losing sight of the demand for austerity, held considerable appeal for the Catalan pedagogic renewal movement. Indeed, the Romantic tradition acted as a bridge that, through authors such as Alexander von Humboldt, enabled Rousseau’s ideas to germinate in Catalonia. However, with the advent of Noucentism in Catalonia in the early 20th century, authors such as Eugenio d’Ors published harsh criticisms of Rousseau’s romanticism. Other thinkers, such as Joaquín Xirau –who wrote within the historical context of the Spanish Republic— also moved away from Rousseau’s ideas about education. However, it is possible to postulate that Rousseau’s ideas triumphed indirectly through Goethe —the Romantic genius who came to be viewed as the champion of Neoclassicism— and Dewey, considering the concomitances between naturalism and pragmatism. The paper concludes that the presence of Rousseau’s pedagogics in the pedagogic renewal movement during the early decades of the 20th century in Catalonia is more a horizon that was aspired towards than a systematically and solidly built reality.