the nature of man

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) has had a great impact on history as well as philosophy throughout the years. He is the most widely cited philosopher of the eighteenth century. In The First and Second Discourses he argues that culture taught people ideas which enslaved them in society. Thus he firmly holds that everyone is better off in his or her original state of nature. The original state of nature is calm and peaceful. Rather it is …

…society. Civil men use love to gain power over women. The moral element of love is a sentiment "and extolled with much skill and care by women . . . and make dominant the sex that ought to obey"(135). Once again, this sentiment is based on beauty. There is no concept of beauty in the original state of nature. A savage finds beauty insignificant and is incapable of comparing women; his mind is not trained in that manner.