“ Self-respect is a natural feeling which leads every animal to look to its own preservation, and which, guided in man by reason and modified by compassion, creates humanity and virtue. ”
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discourse on the Origin of Inequality Among Men (1755). copy citation
| Author | Jean-Jacques Rousseau |
|---|---|
| Source | Discourse on the Origin of Inequality Among Men |
| Topic | humanity compassion |
| Date | 1755 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | Translated by G. D. H. Cole |
| Weblink | https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Discourse_on_the_Origin_of_Inequality_Amo... |
Context
“So much more does the ignorance of vice profit the one sort than the knowledge of virtue the other. (3) . Egoism must not be confused with self-respect: for they differ both in themselves and in their effects. Self-respect is a natural feeling which leads every animal to look to its own preservation, and which, guided in man by reason and modified by compassion, creates humanity and virtue. Egoism is a purely relative and factitious feeling, which arises in the state of society, leads each individual to make more of himself than of any other, causes all the mutual damage men inflict one on another, and is the real source of the "sense of honour."”
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