POL320Y1 Study Guide - Thomas Hobbes
Document Summary
Kant said that we live in an age of enlightenment, when people begin to think for themselves. He looks forward to a time when human beings can think for themselves, instead of relying on religious and political leaders. Rousseau is stuck between prior to the enlightenment and the enlightenment. In order to do this he proposes a different account of human nature (state of nature) than hobbes. He says that humans weren"t always social, and would not be in constant conflict with one another. He says that we have to go back in time, and look at human history. He says that there is something that pre-dates the hobbesian way of thinking. He is pursuing conjectural history , which uses a less literal account of human history. He is trying to shed light on what human beings were before, and how we became what we are. He is imagining society as a theoretical past history.
