rousseaus state of nature essays

rousseau's state of nature essays Rousseaus State of Nature What was man like in his earliest form? When left to his own devices, how did he comport himself? For centuries scholars have pondered mans true state of nature, which can be defined as the condition of mankind in the absence of any sort of community whatever mankind before the advent of civilization (Plattner, 11). Two theories, those of Thomas Hobbs and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, are among the most widely accepted. Hobbs believed that man was essentially, nasty, brutish, and short, because man is constantly at battle to satisfy his needs. Rousseau however believed that in the original state, mankind was naturally good. In his Discourse on Inequality, Rousseau blames mans degeneration on societal evils such as social hierarchies and property ownership. His claims are centered on his belief that man is a noble savage, a fundamentally solitary and primitive being. Rousseau believed that in the state of nature, man was basically no different from the other animals surrounding him. Man only became human through a series of accidents that allowed him to develop and perfect his reason (Plattner, 51). Early man lived a life characterized by: stupidity, solitude, and independence. He was motivated by self-love, and his chief concerns were preservation and satisfying his simple and basic passions (Plattner, 79). Man was distinguished from animals because of his perfectibility, natural sense of pity, and capacity for freewill (Wikipedia). He also states that man is naturally in a state of peace and goodness. This sense of goodness is sometimes misinterpreted to mean virtuousness and benevolence. His goodness was not due to the restraint of his passions by reason or obedience to laws and ethical codes; conversely, man was wholly lacking in reason and hence whol...