ABSTRACT
The historians of education remain almost silent about him. Gabriel Compayre2 mentions him only briefly and contemptuously. "Fourier", he writes, "had educational pretensions. There is nothing more curious than his treatise on 'Natural Education'. In it there is only here and there a flash of good sense mingled with a multitude of grotesque fancies.3 There is little of practical value to be gathered from the writings of the celebrated utopists . . . It is the chimerical which characterizes their systems."4 He concludes, "The education of the Fourierists is neither a discipline nor a rule oflife; it is simply a system of complaisant adherence, and even ardent provocation, to the instincts which the child inherits from nature. It is no longer a question either of directing or of training, it is simply necessary to emancipate and excite."5 Even when allowance is made for Compayre's conservatism and his unsympathetic approach, his judgment on Fourier's educational thought does not reflect any careful study. 6
Discussing Froebel and his predecessors, Octave Greard (Vice Recteur de 1' Academic de Paris), in his monumental Education et Instruction, says that one must mention Fourier "qui dans son Education harmonienne (section troisit!:me, conference notice)
developpe les memes principes sous une forme parfois etrange mais avec un sens profond des besoins de !'education de Ia basse enfance". 7 He however gives no further details or criticisms.
