Rousseau: the natural man and the conditions of transition to civil status

• Grant number: 12/13676-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: August 01, 2012
• End date: December 31, 2013
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Philosophy - History of Philosophy
• Principal Investigator: Marisa da Silva Lopes
• Grantee: Lili Pontinta Cá
• Host Institution: Centro de Educação e Ciências Humanas (CECH). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Rousseau, in book Discourse on the origin and foundations of inequality among men, develops a hypothetical theory according to which the man, in its primive stage, lived according to the mechanical order of nature, depended this to feed him and maintain him healthy. In the that concerns to living, will tell us the philosopher, the man was lonely because he did not had a relationship that did not pass a simple physical satisfaction, in other words, did not there was in him the necessary of relate affectively with others except in the that concern to realization of their physical desires, because he was self-sufficient in himself and all that was aimed only to preserve them. However, obstacles arose and imposed changes in his behavior: he experiences jealousy, dissension, pride, etc., initially missing in the good savage. Rousseau's natural man, led by adverse conditions needed to enable the colleges that were potentially in he to find solution to such adversity. This way, acquired mode of living opposite to natural. And this led the man to build its history, creating and introducing artificial things in your way of living, in other words, abandoned the simple state of nature to form a complex formed by people with intentions not only of conservation, but also to take benefits and advantages for themselves. (AU)