The Swiss philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau argues for a view of human nature very different from that of Hobbes, Rawls, Mill, Condorcet, Rand, Kant, Acquinas, Augustine, Descartes, Aristotle, and Plato. While his views have some minor similarities with Buddhism and Mencius (and even Hobbes), Rousseau’s arguments are unique for his time.
For Rousseau, natural man is relatively peaceful, solitary, and most importantly, functions from instinct and sentiment. (I use “man” deliberately because of his views of women.) The development of man’s ability to reason eventually leads to his decline. Our view of progress is colored by our experience. If we consider life without society and industry, we find a life of few needs, little inequality, and subsequently little suffering. According to Rousseau, society breeds hypocrisy, weakness, jealousy, and servitude. The virtuous individual is independent, has simple needs and wants (determined by nature, not in comparison with others), and acts out of instinct, rather than reason.
The virtuous life is limited, but happy and in harmony with all of nature. Culture interferes with our natural relations with others and enslaves us by weakening our bodies, spirits, and moral sentiments. For example, it transforms self love (amour de soi) into pride (amour-propre). Self-love is always good. It is the root of self-preservation, natural love (sexual and parental), and with reason can be developed into a recognition that others probably feel the same way. Thus is can lead to Pity and all of the compassionate feelings that go along with it.
On the other hand, self love becomes pride through the development of concepts of property and evaluative comparisons with others. This is an inevitable development when human reason enables individuals live in social groups and subsequently have more free time. Experience warps our sense of need and desire. This leads to marked inequality amongst men. The natural inequalities amongst men are greatly magnified by societal inequity. (See the Giant/Dwarf example.)
In latter publications, Rousseau proposes education as a cure for the ills of modern civilaization. Like Mencius, Rousseau believed that evil is not natural. It is caused by outside influences. Therefore, the first step in education is to train a child to protect him/herself from harmful influences. Using nature and the heart as one’s guide, children are allowed to develop in their own time, according to their own abilities, using their own inventiveness and ingenuity. Any positive education must wait until the child develops the innate feeling of pity. Pity allows the child to become aware of his/her relationships with other people. “Through the force of passions we are impelled beyond ourselves; Through the “superabundance of strength” we are induced to “extend our being.” (Grimsley, p. 221)
Grimsley, Ronald. “Rousseau, Jean-Jacques.” in The Encyclopedia of Philosophy, vol. 7, Macmillan Pub. Co. (New York: 1967).