POL320Y1 Lecture Notes - Egocentrism, On Liberty, Categorical Imperative
Document Summary
Human identity disfigured over time by civilization and progress. Our nature has become corrupted: let us begin by putting aside all the facts, for they have no bearing on this question. -rousseau wants us to go back to a time were humans lived in absolute isolation. Reason is what turns man in upon himself. p. 54 bottom -- human do not calculate in the savage state, they act on pitie/sympathy and self-preservation. When they start reasoning they become violent based on passion and calculation making them loose their natural abilities. Capacity to perfect ourselves is the mechanism through which we destroy ourselves. Page 54, hackett: finally, in giving himself to all, each person gibes himself to no one. Page 148,hackett: although in this state he deprives himself of several advantages belonging to him in the state of nature, he regains such great ones. Hackett - compares with discourse on inequality, advantages that we get by entering into a social contract.
