2007-10-28 07:30:20 · 3 answers · asked by Anonymous in Arts & Humanities ➔ History
well rousseau believed that it was society itself that trapped us and stopped us from being free, he believed that in the state of nature (pre-political life without a society) man would be like a noble savage, completely free to do as he pleased. but when we entered into society we began to judge ourselves against our fellow human beings and in doing so became vain and it is this vanity that traps us. For example all these manners that 'civil' society dictates like having to say please or thank you. This is what he meant by man is born free but everywhere he is in chains.
2007-10-28 08:01:33 · answer #1 · answered by :):)wise:) 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Effectively, what he meant was that unhappiness, cruelty, torture, the exploitation of one human being by another, is not natural, but something we do to each other. The chains are both physical (e.g. slavery) and figurative - the fact that some men achieve superiority over their fellows. remember also what the burial service used to say - 'from dust we came and to dust we shall return'
2007-10-28 07:54:44 · answer #2 · answered by rdenig_male 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
we are all slaves to the society in which we live no matter how free people think they are.
2007-10-28 11:41:06 · answer #3 · answered by Marvin R 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋