Rousseau and the Chains of Society

All men are born equal, but even before taking his first step or uttering his first word, a baby understands that it is every man for himself. Human nature may be born good--pure, simple, and as innocent as the baby himself--but when left to survive in this world, societal influences will ultimately shape and twist it into something else entirely. Rousseau understood this progression of human nature, and society's corruption of it. As he observed, "man is born free, yet everywhere he is in chains." …