Rousseau's view on human nature

[nvm]

does anyone have a clue?
cuz i dont

[RedStarOverChina]

That it's "all good" and society corrupts it.

He even tried to raise his own child in a forest.

[IcarusAngel]

He even tried to raise his own child in a forest.

Evidence?

Anyway, yeah, Rousseau's take was that men are generally born good but are corrupted by society. It'd be interesting to find out where he got his beliefs from.

This is in contrast to what most conservative/libertarian, which is that men are generally born evil and greedy and made "civilized" by high society.

Here's the Libertarian position in a nutshell:

"There's a philosophical underpinning that makes 'South Park' different than other shows, which is kids have to be taught to be good people. That we're not naturally born good people. That society actually makes us better," says Stone. "Kids are naturally born egotistical, self-centered, greedy. And they need to be taught to live with other people." --(from an interview with Stone and Parker, creators of South Park0.

I agree more with the Rousseau position than the Libertarian tradition.

[IcarusAngel]

From an online essay:

"
Rousseau and Locke differ in many ways. Rousseau creates a utopian society designed to give all men equal representation under the law. Rousseau claims that from Civil Liberty man gains “what is called Moral Liberty which alone makes him master of himself; for the impulse of appetite is slavery, while obedience to a law which we prescribe to ourselves is liberty” (Rousseau, P.196). In the state of nature, there are certain natural inequalities, strength, age, and sex that allow some individuals to have more liberties than others hold. The social contract removes these inequalities, and, because all inequalities are given up before forming a Commonwealth, it makes all men equal under the law. The society Locke creates, known as capitalism, is a system of greed and unequality that can not be justified. No man has the right to appropriate more than his share. If he does this takes away from the ability of others to self persevere and we will have reverted back to a state of war that both Locke and Rousseau claim was the reason for setting up a society. The Second Treatise on Government should be renamed the Second Treatise on Maintaining, Greed, Wealth, and Power, because that is what it is. Locke’s arguments favor those who have wealth. Those who have none are left to try to obtain property and wealth in a system designed to maintain the status quo of those with wealth and property. Therefore, the factory worker who labours ninety hours a week never obtains wealth and property although he has laboured long and hard. However, the wealthy son of the landowner, who has never worked a day in his life, maintains the wealth of his ancestry without the least bit of labour. Under Rousseau’s system the people, who are supposed to act for the general good, could pass legislation creating greater economic equality amongst the population. "

I agree with this position too; I think Rousseau was a better philosopher than Locke as well although neither were philosophers in the traditional sense.