Cress And Rousseau Analysis

The quip that, while man was born free but everywhere is in chains, attempts to trace and explain how the civilized man has evolved from the natural man (Cress and Rousseau). Accordingly, the natural man limitation and greatest asset is his body. The body serves both as an essential tool for surviving the day to day upheavals while also remaining a tool for safeguarding man’s life. Knowing neither good nor evil, the natural man is free from moral restrictions. As such, the natural man is as free as he wishes, constrained only by his ability (Cress and Rousseau).
In contrast, the civilized man is portrayed as a creature fuelled by vanity and selfishness (Cress and Rousseau). As a natural man strives for perfection, he utilizes his ability for improvement to seek a better lifestyle and ends up chaining himself. While the natural man pity for others leads him to interact with society, the civilized man interactions are premised on self-interest. The conflicting nature of various interest creates a society where the dominant interest form a mechanism for resolving conflicts. The rich, …show more content…
The political societies create rules that constrain the activities of man. While the natural man had room for making his laws, these laws end up becoming chains to the civilized man’s nature (Cress and Rousseau). The attainment of property by the modern man. The natural man only takes what he needs and leaves the rest to others. The civilized man takes what is available and declares it his. The modern man, therefore, puts himself in chains by letting his desires and not his needs drive him. The competition for resources limits the free will of an individual. Those without property have little room for advancing themselves, sharply in contrast with the natural man to whom advancement is a non-issue. While man may have been born free, in nature, man ends up putting himself in various