J.J. Rousseau ; The French Revolution ; and Human and Non Human Animals : So setting aside all those scholarly books which teach us only to see men the way they have made themselves , and thinking about the first and simplest operations of the human soul , I believe I can discern two principles prior to reason : one makes us passionately interested in our well being and in the preservation of ourselves , and the other inspires in us a natural repugnance at seeing any sensitive being perish or suffer - and in particular , beings like ourselves .........In this way , we do not have to turn man into a philosopher before we make him a man . His obligations towards others are not dictated to him exclusively by belated lessons in wisdom , and so long as he does not resist the internal impulse of compassion , he will never do harm to another man , nor even to any other sentient being , except in the legitimate case where , because his preservation is involved , he is obliged to give preference to himself . With this we also end the ancient disputes concerning the participation of animals in natural law . For it is clear that , lacking enlightenment and liberty , they cannot recognize this law . But because in some things they share our nature through the sensitivity with which they are endowed , we judge that they should also share a natural right and that man is subject to some kind of duties towards them . It seems , in fact , that if I am obliged not to do harm to my fellow man , that is not so much because he is a reasonable being but because he is a sentient creature , a quality which , being common to animals and man , should at least confer on one the right not be mistreated for no purpose by the other . Discourse on the Origin and Foundations of Inequality among Men J.J. Rousseau
Posted on: Thu, 10 Jul 2014 03:50:56 +0000
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