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Single Idea 19785

[filed under theme 25. Social Practice / A. Freedoms / 1. Slavery ]

Full Idea

The jurists who have gravely pronounced that the child of a slave woman is born a slave, have decided, in other words, that a man is not born a man.

Gist of Idea

If the child of a slave woman is born a slave, then a man is not born a man

Source

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (Discourse on the Origin of Inequality [1754], Part II)

Book Ref

Rousseau,Jean-Jacques: 'The Basic Political Writings', ed/tr. Cress,Donald A. [Hackett 1987], p.74

A Reaction

The hidden premise of this enthymeme is that man is born free. A key issue of liberalism is the status of children. Are the children of religious believers automatically members of that sect? Can I be born a West Ham supporter?

The 43 ideas from 'Discourse on the Origin of Inequality'

19749 In a direct democracy, only the leaders should be able to propose new laws [Rousseau]
19747 Revolutionaries usually confuse liberty with total freedom, and end up with heavier chains [Rousseau]
19748 Plebiscites are bad, because they exclude the leaders from crucial decisions [Rousseau]
19746 Like rich food, liberty can ruin people who are too weak to cope with it [Rousseau]
19775 People must be made dependent before they can be enslaved [Rousseau]
19774 A savage can steal fruit or a home, but there is no means of achieving obedience [Rousseau]
19772 In a state of nature people are much more equal; it is society which increases inequalities [Rousseau]
19767 Reason leads to prudent selfishness, which overrules natural compassion [Rousseau]
19757 No one would bother to reason, and try to know things, without a desire for enjoyment [Rousseau]
19760 General ideas are purely intellectual; imagining them is immediately particular [Rousseau]
19759 Only words can introduce general ideas into the mind [Rousseau]
19758 Language may aid thinking, but powerful thought was needed to produce language [Rousseau]
19773 Without love, what use is beauty? [Rousseau]
19769 Rational morality is OK for brainy people, but ordinary life can't rely on that [Rousseau]
19768 The better Golden Rule is 'do good for yourself without harming others' [Rousseau]
19766 The fact that we weep (e.g. in theatres) shows that we are naturally compassionate [Rousseau]
19756 Humans are less distinguished from other animals by understanding, than by being free agents [Rousseau]
19755 Most human ills are self-inflicted; the simple, solitary, regular natural life is good [Rousseau]
19762 Is language a pre-requisite for society, or might it emerge afterwards? [Rousseau]
19763 I doubt whether a savage person ever complains of life, or considers suicide [Rousseau]
19765 Savages avoid evil because they are calm, and never think of it (not because they know goodness) [Rousseau]
19771 Savage men quietly pursue desires, without the havoc of modern frenzied imagination [Rousseau]
19770 Primitive people simply redressed the evil caused by violence, without thought of punishing [Rousseau]
19761 Men started with too few particular names, but later had too few natural kind names [Rousseau]
19776 Small uninterrupted causes can have big effects [Rousseau]
19783 A state of war remains after a conquest, if the losers don't accept the winners [Rousseau]
19778 Leisure led to envy, inequality, vice and revenge, which we now see in savages [Rousseau]
19779 Primitive man was very gentle [Rousseau]
19789 It is against nature for children to rule old men, fools to rule the wise, and the rich to hog resources [Rousseau]
19787 People accept the right to be commanded, because they themselves wish to command [Rousseau]
19780 We seem to have made individual progress since savagery, but actually the species has decayed [Rousseau]
19784 Enslaved peoples often boast of their condition, calling it a state of 'peace' [Rousseau]
19785 If the child of a slave woman is born a slave, then a man is not born a man [Rousseau]
19786 Three stages of the state produce inequalities of wealth, power, and enslavement [Rousseau]
19788 The pleasure of wealth and power is largely seeing others deprived of them [Rousseau]
19777 Persuading other people that some land was 'owned' was the beginning of society [Rousseau]
19782 What else could property arise from, but the labour people add to it? [Rousseau]
19781 Land cultivation led to a general right of ownership, administered justly [Rousseau]
19754 If we have a natural right to property, what exactly does 'belonging to' mean? [Rousseau]
19750 Writers just propose natural law as the likely useful agreements among people [Rousseau]
19752 If we should not mistreat humans, it is mainly because of sentience, not rationality [Rousseau]
19751 Our two starting principles are concern for self-interest, and compassion for others [Rousseau]
19753 Both men and animals are sentient, which should give the latter the right not to be mistreated [Rousseau]