Jean-Jacques Rousseau (June 28, 1712 to July 2, 1778) was born in Geneva, but exiled from France, for his ideas. His assertion of a natural state of equality seems inspirational but this was not really Rousseau's main contribution to modernity; that, is rather, a cavalier disregard of consistency within an exhibition of a universal egoism. Our quote captures this:
Rousseau asked James Boswell, "do you like cats?" The biographer of Samuel Johnson answered, "No." And Rousseau replied, in that annoying manner, that has only become more familiar in the succeeding centuries, --that "holier than thou" rudeness--
"I was sure of that. It is my test of character. There you have the despotic instinct of men. They do not like cats because the cat is free, and will never consent to become a slave. He will do nothing to your order as the other animals do. "
The dialogue is quoted by Paul Fussell in Class: A Guide Through the American Status System, 1992.
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