Friday, December 5, 2008

Réponse de salon

After attending the salon I had made a number of new friends and caught up with some old ones. I saw my old friend Denis Diderot who talked to me about his belief that everyone is created equal and they choose to live their lives a certain way. I mostly agreed since I am well aware of all the different ways people live their lives. This is why I believe it is best for children to learn for themselves what is right and what is wrong instead of being forced to by their parents; in my book Emile I discuss this. Mary Wollstonecraft someone who I'd never met partook in mine and Diderot's conversation with her thoughts on society's control over women. In her opinion, women only seem inferior because society tells them that they are and they are led to believe it is the truth. I agreed. This is another example of how today's societies take away the natural freedoms of people. If women weren't told who they were and how they should act perhaps they'd discover that really they are just as capable as men. Perhaps we'd be better off weren't people so intent on maintaining power over as many people as they can; enslaving them. People forget that freedom means relying on yourself first and only relying on others for the things that you need, which I describe in my The Social Contract.

1 comment:

Lena said...

As Catherine the Great, I am pleased to say that your opinion on women and their abilities is rather refreshing... It is not common when you hear a male philosopher talk about women in such an open way. I am glad to hear that mary had such an impact. She would have been a favorite women figure of mine..