... of freedom. Hobbes describes this as a warlike state but Rousseau disagrees and says that "natural man" was compassionate and good. "His argument starts from the ideas of natural man and natural rights" (Cobban, 1964). He says that the competition for resources has been developed by society and asks why man would willingly give up his natural state for servitude in a corrupt system? He believes that the General Will is the way natural man would govern in the state of nature, with service of the common good being paramount and self interest being eliminated. Rousseau says that we have a natural disgust for seeing someone suffer but society has driven our lust to follow our own interests so the way to combat this is through the General Will; a social contract between individuals and members of a community. However it quite simple to argue that the General Will does ...

See this essay or coursework document in full right now