Discourse On Inequality, By Rousseau

The concept of nature is very important in a lot of Rousseau philosophical work and the social contract is a good example of this. He puts forward the idea that that there is a covenant or social contract between members of society this idea is not a new one can be traced back to Plato’s Crito however Plato’s social contract is between the individual and the law not the will of the people(Plato 51 c 53a) He is famous for his common enlightenment position that we are better off being noble in our state of nature of noble savages this point is driven through more clearly in his work Discourse on Inequality, (Rousseau 1755) The Social Contract is more open to the view that we can benefit from modern society. He sets out to determine the basis
His aim is rather to show the necessary constraints of political society can be legitimate and thereby compatible with, if not natural freedom, then an essential human freedom
Rousseau thought is people are essentially good that we as evident by our virtue of compassion we are outgoing sharing people rather than closed nomads like the men of Hobbes state Hobbes views man as greedy and ruthless in nature and it is not a “war of all against all”(Hobbes1651) as Hobbes believes.(Bluhm