In his revolutionary work on education, the great French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) presents concepts that had a significant influence on the development of pedagogy in the 18th century, and many of his ideas still seem radical today. "Emile" is a utopian vision of child-centered education, filled with the sentiments of Romanticism, a movement inspired by Rousseau. Imagining a typical boy named Emile, Rousseau creates an ideal model of individual instruction from childhood to adulthood, with himself as the child's mentor. As in many of his other famous works, here too Rousseau advocates his fundamental position that people are naturally good; only the prevailing influences of civilization have corrupted them.