Rousseau, Second Discourse III

Deadly truths

For the ancients, the guide was perfected human nature. But with an evolutionary view this does not make much sense. We can see the historical trajectory of our development and can project or forecast on this basis, but this is merely what has happened already and the past is no guarantee of the future. Can we really base our idea of human perfection simply on what we have already seen?

The question from the evolutionary perspective is: ‘what should man become?’ But where are we to look to find the answer? Can you know where man should go from where he has been and happens to be today?