Rousseau listed childhood among the natural enemies humanity cannot defend against

Evidence

Strikingly enough, if not necessarily surprisingly, Rousseau included childhood on his enemy list. “Other, more formidable enemies against which man has not the same means of defense are the natural infirmities, childhood, old age and illness of every kind,” (Rousseau, Discourse on the Origin and the Foundations of Inequality Among Men I, I36/F2!6). — Gil Anidjar, The Jew, the Arab, 1030

Categorization

• QUESTION: In what larger sense does Rousseau treat childhood as an enemy, and could this reframe how childhood-elimination in sacrifice or infanticide appears in earlier chapters? A strange and underdeveloped line worth chasing.
• SEED: Enemies without defense: an essay on how Enlightenment thought classified infancy and aging as existential adversaries beyond the human.