Matthew Elmquist 9-27-08 On Being Human Prof. Moland A Socialist-Confederacy: Might Sound Like The Plague To Americans Above Tennessee, But It’s Music To Rousseau’s Ears In Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s mind, early human history (the state of nature) was a utopia and as we progressed as a species, he believed that we only deviated ourselves from this simplistic and beautiful way of life. Once we had left the independence of the state of nature, we became less free and bound up in the “chain(s)” (Rousseau, 56) of laws. Thomas Hobbes on the other hand, viewed the state of nature as a violent and savage time for humans. Hobbes’ belief that all humans were inherently cut-throat and self-interested caused him to fervently advocate for a monarchical government that would essentially manage its people by enforcing laws so that safety and well being were insured even at the cost of freedom. Throughout Rousseau’s Second Discourse, he copiously sites the problems and shortcomings of history’s failed types of governments but fails to give a concrete suggestion of his own. Because of his beliefs on the nature of humans, I believe that Rousseau would want a government that would create a society that imitates and echoes the ideal minimalism of the state of nature. This government would, in my opinion, be a hybrid between socialism and confederacy. At the time Hobbes was writing, he observed the worst in human nature, but he still managed to convey his beliefs in an intelligent and persuasive manner. In Leviathan, Hobbes continually points out how the right that is most paramount to humans is protection of well-being and to an extent property. In Chapter XIII, Paragraph 10, Hobbes uses an extremely well placed example to give weight and legitimacy to the somewhat ou ...