French philosopher and writer, born in Switzerland, who strongly influenced
the theories of the French Revolution and the romantics. Many of his ideas spring
from his belief in the natural goodness of man, whom he felt was warped by society.
His works include Du contrat social (1762), and his Confessions (1782).
Quotes:
The animals you eat are not those who devour others; you do not eat the carnivorous
beasts, you take them as your pattern. You only hunger for the sweet and gentle
creatures which harm no one, which follow you, serve you, and are devoured by
you as the reward of their service.- Emile
One of the proofs that the taste of flesh is not natural to man is the indifference
which children exhibit for that sort of meat, and the preference they all give
to vegetable foods, such as milk-porridge, pastry, fruits, etc. It is of the
last importance not to de-naturalise them of this primitive taste and not to
render them carnivorous, if not for health reasons, at least for the sake of
their character. For, however the experience may be explained, it is certain
that great eaters of flesh are, in general, more cruel and ferocious than other
men. This observation is true of all places and of all times. English coarseness
is well known. The Gaures, on the contrary, are the gentlest of men. All savages
are cruel, and it is not their morals that urge them to be so; this cruelty
proceeds from their food. They go to war as to the chase, and treat men as they
do bears. Even in England the butchers are not received as legal witnesses any
more than surgeons. Great criminals harden themselves to murder by drinking
blood. Homer represents the Cyclopes, who were flesh-eaters, as frightful men,
and the Lotophagi [lotus-eatersj as a people so amiable that as soon as one
had any dealings with them, one straightway forgot everything, and one's country,
to live with them. - Emile
I have sometimes examined those people who attach importance to good living,
who thought, upon their first awakening, of what they should eat during the
day, and described a dinner with more exactitude than Polybius would use in
describing a battle. I have thought that all these so-called men were but children
of forty years, without vigour and without consistence - fruges [carnes] consumere
nati. Gluttony is the vice of souls that have no solidity. The soul of a gourmand
is in his palate. He is brought into the world but to devour. In his stupid
incapacity, he is at home only at his table. His powers of judgment are limited
to his dishes. - Emile
Every animal (of the higher species) has ideas, since he has senses. He even
combines his ideas up to a certain point, and man differs, in this respect,
only in the more or less. Some philosophic writers have even advanced that there
is more difference between this man and that man, than between this man and
that (non-human) animal. It is not, therefore, intelligence so much as his quality
of being a free agent which makes the difference. - Discourse Upon Inequality
Among Men