Reference no: EM132442623

When Rousseau in the brief module reading speaks of pre-historical ("caveman") humankind, he is at once trying to imagine what sociality was really like before "civilization" and (perhaps mostly) complaining about the ills of "civilization."

• Of course, we can never, once "civilized," go back to a more "natural" state (how could one have a career and etc.?) and yet this is a nostalgic longing that recurs in various guises: hippies living on communes, going backpacking in the wilderness when all is simplified, or perhaps just exercising a bit of anti-consumerist/non-competitive Zen-ness in your life or domestic arrangements, or even just remembering the relatively care-free days of your childhood.

• Here's the topic/query: do you believe we have "fallen" into too much hyper-civilization/rat race/whatever, sacrificing our primary animal spontaneity for the benefits of "civilization"? Does Rousseau's complaint seem reasonable to you or just naïve nostalgia or whining?

• Optionally or additionally: maybe "you" can't return to a "native" existence, but should we respect and, even more so, protect the lifestyles/habits of current tribes such as depicted in two of the other module readings? Consider, if you wish, the "cost/benefits" of preserving a relatively isolated or non-"Western" integrated culture versus all the perhaps inexorable forces (not necessarily malign) of capitalistic/industrial advancement.