us, unable to dispense with the help of others, becomes so far weak and wretched.  We were meant to be men, laws and customs thrust us back into infancy.  The rich and great, the very kings themselves are but children; they see that we are ready to relieve their misery; this makes them childishly vain, and they are quite proud of the care bestowed on them, a care which they would never get if they were grown men.

These are weighty considerations, and they provide a solution for all the conflicting problems of our social system.  There are two kinds of dependence:  dependence on things, which is the work of nature; and dependence on men, which is the work of society.  Dependence on things, being non-moral, does no injury to liberty and begets no vices; dependence on men, being out of order, [Footnote:  In my principles of political law it is proved that no private will can be ordered in the social system.] gives rise to every kind of vice, and through this master and slave become mutually depraved.  If there is any cure for this social evil, it is to be found in the substitution of law for the individual; in arming the general will with a real strength beyond the power of any individual will.  If the laws of nations, like the laws of nature, could never be broken by any human power, dependence on men would become dependence on things; all the advantages of a state of nature would be combined with all the advantages of social life in the commonwealth.  The liberty which preserves a man from vice would be united with the morality which raises him to virtue.

Keep the child dependent on things only.  By this course of education you will have followed the order of nature.  Let his unreasonable wishes meet with physical obstacles only, or the punishment which results from his own actions, lessons which will be recalled when the same circumstances occur again.  It is enough to prevent him from wrong doing without forbidding him to do wrong.  Experience or lack of power should take the place of law.  Give him, not what he wants, but what he needs.  Let there be no question of obedience for him or tyranny for you.  Supply the strength he lacks just so far as is required for freedom, not for power, so that he may receive your services with a sort of shame, and look forward to the time when he may dispense with them and may achieve the honour of self-help.

Nature provides for the child’s growth in her own fashion, and this should never be thwarted.  Do not make him sit still when he wants to run about, nor run when he wants to be quiet.  If we did not spoil our children’s wills by our blunders their desires would be free from caprice.  Let them run, jump, and shout to their heart’s content.  All their own activities are instincts of the body for its growth in strength; but you should regard with suspicion those wishes which they cannot carry out for themselves, those which others must carry out for them.  Then you must distinguish carefully between natural and artificial needs, between the needs of budding caprice and the needs which spring from the overflowing life just described.