Jean Jacques Rousseau and the State of Nature

Hobbes and Rousseau are often put against each other for their views on what life would look like for humans in the state of nature. For Rousseau, Hobbes is looking at the state of nature through a biased societal lens, a society that has things like property, honor, success, and various goods. A human in the state of nature is blissfully ignorant of these things and is concerned only with the basics to survive. Thus, Rousseau's picture of the state of nature for humans is a bit more optimistic than Hobbes'.
Rousseau also takes the time to discuss certain qualities that he finds natural in humans. One of these qualities is pity, a faculty that we can easily see even today. According to Rousseau, if the Hobbesian person were without pity, then we would see everyone shunning their own family, friends, and others. But even if the world may look dark at times, there are signs of pity that we can identify in others.
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