Exotic Journeys: A Tourist's Guide to Philosophy

brought to you by Ron Yezzi

Emeritus Professor of Philosophy

Minnesota State University, Mankato

© Copyright 1986, 2000, 2015, 2020 by Ron Yezzi

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Topics

Hobbes

Origins of Good and Evil

Life in a "State of Nature"

Laws of Nature

Rousseau

Principles of Action within Human Nature

Corruption by Society

Inequality

Savage and Civilized Peoples

Hobbes and Rousseau: A Comparison

Controversies: Some Objections and Possible Replies

Thought Excursions

Hobbes, Rousseau, and the Morality of War

Sources

Author's Note: This account is an adaptation from Ron Yezzi, Directing Human Actions: Perspectives on Basic Ethical Issues (Lanham: University Press of America, 1986), pp. 103 - 118.

Human Nature:

Hobbes and Rousseau

Thomas Hobbes is one of those philosophers who takes such hard, uncompromising stands that many other philosophers dearly want to produce refutations. This tendency is nowhere more evident than in Hobbes' treatment of human nature and the subsequent ethical implications. Jean Jacques Rousseau is one of those who offered a refutation.

Hobbes