It is hard to satisfy human desires, really?

I once watched a clip of an interesting Japanese show; it is about what will a homeless beggar do if someone gives him a lot of money. Apart from what I(myself, not Rousseau) thought that he will spend lots of money buying luxuries, to use the money to invest, to find a job, to fully use up all that he can have, he first rejected the offer and ask if he would get arrested or not (lol). When the people recording the show explains and insist on giving him, he steps into a convenient store, buys some cheap foods, water, a toothbrush, and asked if they can let him use the money to live in a hotel for one day. He seems to be happy after taking a comfortable nap and a bath and returned all the money that they give him. I, as Rousseau, would explain this phenomenon in my discussion of the state of nature. I believe that the human state of nature is like animals, actually, human desire is simple, and their needs are little. Basically humans only wish for physical needs like food, water, shelter. Like the example above, a man, even without any interactions with the society itself (not involving, not contributing) can still demonstrate his state of nature. From the homeless’ action of only buying stuff for basic needs, it can be explained by my statement of the state of nature. People in the state of nature should have a good life, it can be seen from the homeless that he was quite satisfied after fulfilling basic needs even he does not receive a lot of money.

One thought on “It is hard to satisfy human desires, really?

  1. Tianze Guo, you made a good point stating that in Rousseau’s perspective that people in the state of nature should have a good life from fulfilling basic needs. I agree with them because Rousseau states that in the state of nature, man is free from the moral/political inequalities since he lives solely for self-preservation and his or her survival like focusing on just the basic needs as you mentioned. In addition to that, man’s “self-preservation was practically his sole concern” (52, Rousseau) which adds on to your point because those who are just concerned with self-preservation are not concerned about pity which leads to moral/political inequalities which would stray away from the ideal state of nature

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