{"id":107,"date":"2012-07-03T19:37:10","date_gmt":"2012-07-03T19:37:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wsantosblog.com\/?p=107"},"modified":"2013-02-18T18:18:11","modified_gmt":"2013-02-18T18:18:11","slug":"good-vs-evil-according-to-rousseau","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wilsonsantos.blog\/?p=107","title":{"rendered":"Good vs. Evil According to Rousseau"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-indent:23px;\">\n<p><em>*This essay was originally written for a Graduate course on Romanticism in Fall 2010.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Are humans naturally born good or evil?\u00a0 This question rests at the heart of Jean-Jacques Rousseau\u2019s <em>Discourse on the Origins of Inequality<\/em>, in which he attempts to situate the earliest traces of human divisions that have perpetuated, as he suggests, the corruption of modern civil society.\u00a0 If we are to acknowledge Rousseau\u2019s assessment of civility, we will find that civil society under his definition is not civil at all, but savagely more regressive than the ancient \u201cnoble savage\u201d he reveres.\u00a0 According to Rousseau, \u201c\u2026nothing is so gentle as man in his primitive state, when, placed by nature at an equal distance from the stupidity of brutes and the fatal enlightenment of civil man\u2026 he is retrained by natural pity from needlessly harming anyone himself, even if he has been harmed\u201d (50).\u00a0 It is this natural pity for one another that makes humans good.\u00a0 Once this pity is removed and human vices, like greed, egocentrism and pride take over, man\u2019s natural goodness deteriorates to an unnatural bad.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Rousseau\u2019s hypothetical theory assumes that the early move toward the destruction of humanity\u2019s natural goodness began when the first person \u201cenclosed a plot of land,\u201d subsequently establishing property acquisition and ownership, thus laying the foundation for civil society as we know it.\u00a0 He asserts, \u201cWhat crimes, wars, murders, what miseries and horrors would the human race have been spared, had someone pulled up the stakes or filled in the ditch and cried out to his fellow men: \u2018Do not listen to this impostor. You are lost if you forget that the fruits of the earth belong to all and the earth to no one!\u2019\u201d (44).\u00a0 The establishment of property, therefore, was the first revolution of human nature to foster division and inequality.<\/p>\n<p>One must consider the alternative.\u00a0 If humanity had not established land and property ownership, we would, to this day be wandering the earth, never cultivating agriculture, never settling down and always in perpetual movement.\u00a0 In essence, we would be like the orangutans, \u201c\u2026solitary, indolent, nomadic, casually promiscuous, they form no enduring family attachments, let alone broader group ties\u201d (Rousseau x).\u00a0 But human evolution dictates humanity\u2019s need of personal attachments, self-preservation and want of order.\u00a0 The establishment of property, therefore, was an inevitable consequence of evolution. If we are to accept his argument that property ownership created inequality and injustice, and in turn indulge my assertion that want of property was a natural result of human progress, then inequality and injustice must also be a natural process, and therefore cannot be an unnatural characteristic of humanity and civil society.<\/p>\n<p>Humans, like most other animals, naturally evolve and adapt to their environment, mostly out of the need for self-preservation.\u00a0 If one agrees that evolution is a natural process of existence, then inequality, injustice and evil are as natural to humanity as is goodness.\u00a0 To think differently is to assume that the first person to establish property did not do so out of his natural inclination, but was motivated by some external force outside his nature.\u00a0 Rousseau\u2019s argument, though noble and rational, oversimplifies humanity\u2019s natural evolutionary principle and fails to account for human instinct and reason, favoring instead a romantic view of the \u201cnoble savage\u201d as the righteous natural human.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\">Works Cited<\/p>\n<p>Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. <em>Discourse on the Origin of Inequality.<\/em> Trans. Donald\u00a0A. Cress. Intro. James Miller. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company,\u00a01992. Print.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>*This essay was originally written for a Graduate course on Romanticism in Fall 2010. Are humans naturally born good or evil?\u00a0 This question rests at the heart of Jean-Jacques Rousseau\u2019s Discourse on the Origins of Inequality, in which he attempts to situate the earliest traces of human divisions that have perpetuated, as he suggests, the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37404269,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[786],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-essays"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2z1Px-1J","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":449,"url":"https:\/\/wilsonsantos.blog\/?p=449","url_meta":{"origin":107,"position":0},"title":"America is&#8230; (2012)","author":"Wilson Santos","date":"February 18, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"america is a giant paradox, bubbling like volcanoes about to explode america is a blossomed gardenia, whose petals have begun to unfold america is Capricorn rising, the truth is yet to be told america is \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 foreclosed property, drowning in all her fool\u2019s gold america is sun in the summer,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Poetry&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Poetry","link":"https:\/\/wilsonsantos.blog\/?cat=422"},"img":{"alt_text":"the american flag","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wilsonsantos.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/american-flag.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":637,"url":"https:\/\/wilsonsantos.blog\/?p=637","url_meta":{"origin":107,"position":1},"title":"My Love for you is Burnin (2010)","author":"Wilson Santos","date":"March 15, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"My love for you is burnin Like Paris is burnin New York burnin New hope burnin Flowers are burnin Life is burnin Existence burnin The moon, the sun, The universe, eternity, Moisture from dewdrops on Leaves of grass, Dust floating through space Everything is burnin, Music is burnin The dance\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Poetry&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Poetry","link":"https:\/\/wilsonsantos.blog\/?cat=422"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/c\/c1\/Streichholz.jpg","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":72,"url":"https:\/\/wilsonsantos.blog\/?p=72","url_meta":{"origin":107,"position":2},"title":"The Suppression of Knowledge: An American Legacy","author":"Wilson Santos","date":"July 3, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"*This essay was originally written for a Graduate writing class on\u00a0December 14, 2009. Bertolt Brecht, the renowned German poet and playwright once wrote, \u201cHungry man, grab that book.\u201d\u00a0 Brecht recognized the power of knowledge and understood; one way to satiate hunger is through knowledge. \u00a0The American political system has long\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Essays&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Essays","link":"https:\/\/wilsonsantos.blog\/?cat=786"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":867,"url":"https:\/\/wilsonsantos.blog\/?p=867","url_meta":{"origin":107,"position":3},"title":"Salem News Review of My Verse &#8211; 2014","author":"Wilson Santos","date":"April 14, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"'My Verse'\u00a0by Prof. Wilson Santos: Giving a Voice to the Voiceless Agron Belica Salem-News.com (ORLANDO) - Jamal Belica of Aldin Entertainment Music Group has brought a very moving video to the attention of the Salem News. While working on his own projects to spread the word for a better world\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Press&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Press","link":"https:\/\/wilsonsantos.blog\/?cat=2764"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":112,"url":"https:\/\/wilsonsantos.blog\/?p=112","url_meta":{"origin":107,"position":4},"title":"Walt Whitman: Slavery, Paradox and Future Poetics","author":"Wilson Santos","date":"July 3, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"*This essay was originally written for a Graduate course on American Poetry in Fall 2010. Walt Whitman\u2019s personal inconsistencies regarding his position on slavery have been the subject of much scholarly criticism and debate.\u00a0 It has been well documented that Walter Whitman, the journalist, political activist and public figure, held\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Essays&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Essays","link":"https:\/\/wilsonsantos.blog\/?cat=786"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":313,"url":"https:\/\/wilsonsantos.blog\/?p=313","url_meta":{"origin":107,"position":5},"title":"Baraka with a Movie Camera: From City Symphony to Global Symphony","author":"Wilson Santos","date":"August 28, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"*This essay was originally written for a Graduate writing class on December 14, 2010. http:\/\/youtu.be\/ZSfFHxyYJJA At first glance, it would appear that a comparison of Ron Fricke\u2019s Baraka and Dziga Vertov\u2019s Man With a Movie Camera is an unfair juxtaposition since the political and ideological messages of the two films\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Essays&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Essays","link":"https:\/\/wilsonsantos.blog\/?cat=786"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/ZSfFHxyYJJA\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wilsonsantos.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wilsonsantos.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wilsonsantos.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilsonsantos.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/37404269"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilsonsantos.blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=107"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/wilsonsantos.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":433,"href":"https:\/\/wilsonsantos.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107\/revisions\/433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wilsonsantos.blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilsonsantos.blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilsonsantos.blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}