Exploring Rousseau's Discourse on Natural Humanity

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The Natural Ways Man became a Natural Human Being
In his book A Discourse on Inequality, Jean- Jacques Rousseau turns to the state of nature in search of the real “essence” of man. What made humans to be humans? Rousseau is trying to determine the prodigious events, such as the acquisition of knowledge and errors, the mutations that took place in the constitution of the body, and the constant impact of the passions that eventually led to the separation of man between the state of nature and society (67). He describes how as time change, humanity change as well. He figures that if by first looking into the origin of man, it can lead to the “source of inequality among men” and the unnatural ways man has evolved to become (67).
According to Rousseau, in the state of nature, man resembles the image of a savage. The human animal does not have a language or self awareness. Man simply dispersed among the beasts by imitating and …show more content…

If man did not have conscious of his “own self”, what make him to be self aware of his surroundings? As suggested throughout the book, what departs man from the state of nature is the faculty of self improvement (88). It is with this acquisition that man “is the source of all his misfortunes… [dragging him] out of that original condition in which he would pass peaceful and innocent days … bringing to fruition over the centuries his insights and his errors, his vices and his virtues, [ which at the end] makes man a tyrant over himself and over nature (88). Another ability that leaves man out of the state of nature is the capacity to take control over his actions. In the state of nature, nature commands all animals and the beast instantly obeys, and while man receives the same impulsion, he recognizes himself as being free to acquiesce or resist (88-89). With these two abilities that man is capable of doing he is not longer part of the state of

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