I don’t get this quote, it strikes me as wit with no substance.
Presumably the quote is from De Quincey’s essay “On Murder Considered as one of the Fine Arts”, and with that context & perspective in mind it has a tad more substance.
I have always read it as intentionally ironic commentary on the ‘slippery slope’ more than anything else.
I read it more specifically as a parody of moral slipperyslopism, in which slight moral infractions lead to the worst sort of behavior.
Arguably, we live in an era strongly shaped by revulsion at moral slipperyslopism.
Me too, honestly.
I don’t get this quote, it strikes me as wit with no substance.
Presumably the quote is from De Quincey’s essay “On Murder Considered as one of the Fine Arts”, and with that context & perspective in mind it has a tad more substance.
I have always read it as intentionally ironic commentary on the ‘slippery slope’ more than anything else.
I read it more specifically as a parody of moral slipperyslopism, in which slight moral infractions lead to the worst sort of behavior.
Arguably, we live in an era strongly shaped by revulsion at moral slipperyslopism.
Me too, honestly.