Rousseau and Yoga: The Roles of Intelligence, Instinct, and Intuition in the Shaping of Consciousness

This is the fourth paper in a series of articles that makes a comparative analysis of the pedagogical theories and practices advanced by Jean-Jacques Rousseau in Emile and the discipline of yoga as it is presented in the Yoga Sutra of Patañjali, the primary written source in the teachings of yoga philosophy. In this paper, similarities between Rousseau’s pedagogy and yogic practices suggest how these two systems offer parallel or similar approaches regarding the role of heart, mind, and body in the development of the faculties of instinct, intuition, and intelligence, and how these faculties assist in fostering consciousness. A major difference is that Rousseau’s system aims at fostering appropriate development in the child so as to guarantee adherence to the self, whereas yoga aims to still the fluctuations of consciousness so that the adept can rediscover the true self, and achieve integration of the self with other functions.