The State of Nature and Original Goodness: The conceptual function in Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Rousseau is a philosopher who refuses to organize his thought in any way, since, according to his own judgment, elaborate and systematized reasoning obscures the spontaneity of intuition which, on the other hand, should be the driving force behind the search for truth. In this sense, Geneva's work is made up of ruptures, oppositions and numerous inaugural moments: this is apparently his constant system. In order to explain these ruptures and these unsystematic oppositions that give rise to various paradoxes, a unitary, but not necessarily orderly, reading requires a double form of understanding, namely from the point of view of method and from the point of view of doctrine. These two aspects will be intertwined in the course of our work, and the question of method will require extra attention, given that, as it is quite characteristic, it requires a detailed exposition, less with the intention of demonstrating its objective validity than the way in which the Genebrinist thinks it is appropriate for researching human nature.