Rousseau, Second Discourse X

Memories and our humanity

To find human nature, to redraw it from the disappeared past, Rousseau elects to examine an animal that looks like us, that walks upright and can therefore gaze at nature and the sky. Such a being, straight from nature, would be less strong and less agile than some, but better organized than all. While natural man would not have the instincts of the other animals – this being a condition of his freedom – he can nevertheless imitate the other animals.