Posts Tagged noble savage

Episode 23: Rousseau: Human Nature vs. Culture

Posted by Mark Linsenmayer in Podcast Episodes on July 29, 2010

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:28:38 — 81.2MB)

Discussing Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s Discourse in Inequality and book 1 of The Social Contract.

What’s the relationship between culture and nature? Are savages really slavering beasts of unquenchable appetites, or probably more mellow, hangin’ about, flexin’ their muscles, just chillin’, eh?

Rousseau engages in some wild speculation about the development of humanity from the savage to the modern, miserable wretch. Association with other people corrupts us, especially association with Wes. Is there some form of government that will make things tolerable? Maybe that one where Oprah is our queen.

Read along with us! http://www.constitution.org/jjr/ineq.htm and http://www.constitution.org/jjr/socon.htm.

End song: “Love Is the Problem” by New People from The Easy Thing (2009).

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