Rousseau's Platonic Point...

 

Rousseau's point, in his Discourse on Inequality, is that the desire of amor propio, the desire the be esteemed and recognized and have your values respected and esteemed by those around you, is in fact a violent and uncontrollable passion. This passion is much like Plato's use of the Greek thumos, or anger; the passion that makes us burn with anger over perceived slights, and which drives us to sometimes risk our lives and even those of others to rectify what we perceive to be acts of injustice. And like Plato, Rousseau is interested in whether this passion may be redirected to the service of the public good by bringing it under the control of reason and compassion, or love, or perhaps empathy; to make Pride the servant of Virtue. Yet, despite such noble motives, we must remember history, and the consequences of righteuous pride. We must remember why wise men and women warn against its seduction, and the name which they have given it: deadly sin.