Botany and the Taming of Female Passion: Rousseau and Contemporary Educational Concepts of Young Women

Central in the analyses of women??s and gender studies within the history of education has been Rousseau??s (Emil oder über die Erziehung, 12th edn. Ferdinand Sch?ningh, Paderborn 1762) educational novel Emile, especially Book 5, which deals with the education of Sophie, Emilie??s future spouse. Given the lasting interest in the person of Rousseau and his work, it is astonishing that there is a work by him, that has not been a focus of analysis in studies on the history of education, namely, Rousseau??s Lettres élementaires sur la botanique. Linnaeus had early on espoused a classification bases on the sexuality of the plants. Their sexualizing plants was in keeping with the zeitgeist of the Enlightenment, which had also put the new order of human sexual relations on the agenda. The following article focusses on the question what importance Rousseau??s letters on botany can be accorded in this controversy over the sexuality of the plants and the relations between the sexes.