PRIMATO DELL’AMOR DI SÉ O PRIMATO DELLA PIETA’? UN VIAGGIO DI EMILIO NEL PURO STATO DI NATURA

Building on the reflections developed by Francesco Toto in the fourth chapter of his book L’origine e la storia. Il “Discorso sull’ineguaglianza” di Rousseau, this article explores the relationship between love of self (amour dei soi) and pity in the development of human morality. Through a cross-reading of the Discourse on Inequality and Emile, or On Education, an attempt will be made to show how, if from an anthropological point of view pity may appear to be relegated to the confines of love of self – as Toto suggests – it nevertheless holds a moral primacy, attributable precisely to its ability to direct love of self itself.