ABSTRACT
Rousseau’s work demonstrates an intense and complex relation to the thought of Plutarch. Plutarch was a formative influence in Rousseau’s intellectual development. Still, while drawing on Plutarch’s inspirational account of ancient personalities, Rousseau often brought to his appropriation of Plutarch a very unique flourish. In exploring the themes of politics as education, the role of exemplarity in education, and the nature of republicanism, I demonstrate multiple ways in which Rousseau draws upon one of his most favoured authors, only to find himself in the end quite far removed from the lessons of one of his favourite teachers.
