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19745 | The nature of people is decided by the government and politics of their society |
Full Idea: Everything is rooted in politics, and whatever might be attempted, no people would ever be other than the nature of their government made them. | |||
From: Jean-Jacques Rousseau (The Confessions [1770], 9-1756) | |||
A reaction: A striking anticipation of one of Marx's most important ideas - that society is not created by individual minds, because the nature of consciousness is created by society. The central idea in the subject of sociology, I think. |