What assumptions did Rousseau make about human nature? What did he mean by his statement “Man is born free yet we see him everywhere in chains”?
According to Rousseau, person’s own inclinations and the honest feelings is the best guide for the human nature. He said that the first instinct is always right of the human nature. In the heart of the human, there is no sin is found. Physical freedom is our birth right and modern state always tries to repress our physical freedom.
A statement given by the Rousseau was, “man is born free and yet we see him in chains everywhere, by this statement he wanted to express that in Europe all the governments are working on a faulty assumption founded on the human nature. According to this assumption, human nature has to be governed. Justifiable government is one that has the potential to allow the humans to reach and express their will for free.
By the time we becomes the part of the society, it poses its rules and regulation to limit the freedom of the individuals. Man has the most natural state of affair, but in order to acquire protection, he has to surrender his liberty. He survives being bounded by the society. Society is acts like a prison, which held the man with rules likes chains.