Liberate from the Shackles of the “Cave”—A Comparative Study of Early Childhood Cultivation thoughts between Emile and the Republic

Plato and Rousseau, two educators of different historical periods, contributed greatly to the development of Western and even world education with their theories of education. The theory of natural education, advocated by Emile and written by Rousseau, still has a strong reference. As an Enlightenment thinker and educator, he learned from and went beyond the educational ideas of Plato in ancient Greece. Influenced by times, individuals and other factors, they have different views on education. Starting from their representative work, this paper compares the similarities and differences between Plato’s “citizen’s education” and Rousseau’s “Nature’s education” in early childhood cultivation, dialectically views the value of Rousseau’s natural education thought in its time background, which has important reference significance for contemporary education.