Jean Jacques Rousseau · Politics

Living in the Eyes of Others

Rousseau’s piercing psychology of how society makes us define ourselves by comparison - the source of both our vanity and our misery.

What you'll be able to recall

You learned that amour-propre is self-love based on comparison. Explain how it both drives social life and poisons it, in your own words.

Leads to G.W.F. Hegel.

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