ROUSSEAU - MAN

<BODY> <CENTER><FONT SIZE=5><B><FONT SIZE=6>ROUSSEAU</FONT><BR> HISTORIAN OF THE HEART</B></FONT></CENTER><P> <FONT SIZE=4><B>Man</B></FONT><P> <FONT SIZE=4><B>NATURAL MAN</B></FONT><BR> In contrast to contemporary intellectuals, Rousseau did not see man's history as a struggle from darkness to the light. Rather, he considered that intellectual achievement had been accompanied by moral decadence. Man in a "state of nature" lived a solitary life of simple virtue. Man had moved further and further from his state of natural goodness, and society with all its technological advancement was to blame. Philosophes like Diderot and Voltaire were equally vigorous in their criticism of contemporary social abuses, but they placed their faith in modern scientific understanding while Rousseau placed his in the laws of nature. Their preoccupation was reason; Rousseau's was human virtue and happiness.<P> <CENTER><IMG SRC="1408a.jpg" WIDTH="300" HEIGHT="112" ALT="WHERE ARE WE GOING?"></CENTER><P> Gauguin's monumental work "Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going?" seems to ask similar questions to those posed by Rousseau, and to draw similar conclusions.<P> <FONT SIZE=4><B>NOBLE SAVAGE</B></FONT><BR> Less than twenty years after Rousseau's idealised picture of "natural man" was formulated, Tahiti and other Pacific islands were discovered. Early navigators like Bouganville, an admirer of Rousseau, saw here idyllic societies unsullied by science and technology, living examples of the harmony envisaged by Rousseau. The inhabitants were not dismissed as primitives to be pitied for their lack of civilised ways, but were idealised as "noble savages". Their life was to be envied not despised. <BR clear=left><BR> <HR width=100%> <A HREF="http://www.creatorix.com.au"><IMG SRC="../creatorix.gif" WIDTH="85" HEIGHT="40" BORDER="0" ALT="Creatorix" align=right></A> </BODY>