Peak 033 Private Generation

So, we learn to give up, why should we learn to give up?

Only by giving up can there always be gains.

So, this is a dialectics of life. You can't have everything, just like me. Although I have done this job, I still hope to be taller, but God gave me this figure. So, even if I think about it, it's impossible to be more carefree, handsome, or young. However, even if I'm young, I wouldn't be in the position I am now.

So, in Rousseau's view, this simple or childish yet happy life of humanity has lasted for centuries. However, later on, the transition from a natural state to an unequal state, also known as an unequal social state, cannot be solely attributed to external social changes. Its main root still comes from the free will determined by human reason.

Because humans have such free will activities, which ultimately lead to the transition from equality to inequality, from the natural state to the social state. So why does he emphasize this important concept, that is, the transition of human beings from a natural state to a social state, from an equal state to inequality, is by no means an accidental phenomenon of human society, but rather an inevitable result of human nature.

Therefore, the emergence of inequality is inevitable. So, this idea is very profound. We used to think that we could eliminate inequality, and social inequality was due to social injustice and other factors. In Rousseau's view, this inequality cannot be eradicated, precisely because of what?

Human beings have a unique ability for self-improvement, which means they are not satisfied with their natural state. They always hope to change this natural state and make it more perfect and better. So, in Rousseau's view, a natural person inherently possesses the potential abilities of rational civilization, language, social life, moral progress, and so on.

If you say that humans do not possess such abilities, then humans are no different from animals. The reason why humans are different from animals is that they have a rational thinking and the right to freedom, or will. In this sense, humans are inherently capable of changing themselves and demanding self-improvement.

Actually, if we analyze this issue from another perspective, we will find that there are some contradictions in the middle, there is one contradiction. I don't know if everyone can realize the existence of this contradiction, what kind of contradiction?

If we emphasize Rousseau's statement about the state of natural persons, which is a state of happiness, equality, and harmony, and if we emphasize this factor and explain that only in this state of equal nature can human life be happy, how can we humans, due to our own abilities, lead to a state of disharmony such as pain, inequality, war, and so on, when we break free from that state of nature.

There is a tension inherent in this, a contradictory conflict within it, and there is no contradiction when everyone reads it out. If human nature is truly like this, why has humanity been like this for thousands of years and centuries? Humans have been like this for so long, and they have not developed it. At a certain point in history, they suddenly became like this, and then became like this. You also explain to them that the reason why you became like this is because you already have this thing in it.

What is working here?

Or rather, it must have something external rather than internal, which has led to a transformation of one's inner self, making people have to think about how they might behave if they cannot do so.

Therefore, the ability of human freedom itself, which is the will of this freedom, is not the true root of the changes in human society, but rather the free will itself, which is not a root that leads humans from a natural state to a social state.

From the natural state to the social state, you interpret it as a person's own free nature or free will. Your explanation alone cannot fully explain why people move from a natural state to a social state. There must be some external factor driving this situation, and what is the reason for this change? What did Rousseau give?

In fact, it refers to the development of agriculture itself and the development of metallurgical manufacturing industry, which are external reasons and external basis.

That is to say, this development is precisely due to human beings themselves. Through their own production and communication with the external world, they increasingly realize that we cannot be satisfied with their existing natural state. What they need to do is to reuse their natural nature and change that natural state.

The result of this change is to enter a state of 'private ownership', so the result of the change is private ownership. Private ownership is a result, not a cause, and its true external social causes are metallurgy and agriculture.

How could it be these two things? Why isn't it the usual meaning of economic development and social change? Why isn't it this thing?

Of course not, because both economic and social factors only emerged after inequality and private ownership emerged, which is impossible to occur in the natural state of humanity.

However, agriculture exists in a natural state, where people create their essential goods through slash and burn farming and interaction with the land. In the process of agricultural development, it has gradually become increasingly important to expand production and expand one's own scope of activities.

When he cannot rely solely on his existing land to support himself, he seeks a relatively fixed land model and scale in order to develop himself and live better.

So, at this time, there was a demand for extensive land expansion. If we look at anthropology, primitive humans did not have a fixed habitat, and almost all of our early humans were nomadic peoples. You see, on the current world map, the world map we are looking at today actually formed a world map millions of years ago. That world map, the map of human changes, has a roadmap.

How has this roadmap changed?

It is completely like the migratory birds we know today. It constantly changes its living environment according to climate change, because it cannot change the local environment. Therefore, it can only find a more suitable way for its survival through self movement and migration. The living environment produces the environment. Therefore, there is a TV series called "Wild Man".

Of course, it's not the savages we discovered today. It refers to primitive humans who lived in extremely dangerous and harsh environments. Humans are not the strongest among all animals in terms of body structure, and their sensitivity is not as good as many animals. The only thing humans have is that they can make judgments and choices about surrounding events through their own brains.

The reason why humans have been able to develop to the present day and surpass all other animals is not due to our natural abilities. We need to talk about human natural abilities, which are inferior to other animals in any aspect. However, it is precisely through their own intelligence or thoughts that humans can become primates of all things.

So, in this sense, as humans continue to migrate, they gradually realize that my constant migration actually has a great impact on myself. In the end, they need to find a relatively stable and fixed place to live. When they find a suitable place to live, they begin to find ways to make their land their own possession, the only place they have, and not for others to use.

So, Rousseau said, 'When a person surrounds a piece of land and says that it belongs to me and no one else can use it, private ownership arises.'.

Before private ownership, people in ancient times did not have the concepts of me and you, because they belonged to everyone. So, in all living environments, everyone needs to cooperate with each other, help each other, and survive in groups.

So, without the boundaries between you, me, and him, without clarity, including the child born, it is impossible to determine who this child belongs to. Because he lives in groups, there is no judgment on who this child belongs to, so you cannot distinguish between us.

The concept of a stable family only emerged after the emergence of private ownership. It is only with the concept of private ownership that you have a stable sense of family.

Because in the past, people lived in mixed households, with only a clear blood relationship between the mother and the child. However, it is uncertain who the father of the child is. Therefore, this is the reason why human society has been matrilineal for a long time.

Matrilineal society is a natural state, the most natural state. Because only mothers can confirm the blood relationship of their children, and it is difficult to determine the blood relationship of fathers. It was only later in the society of true private ownership that humans began to distinguish between mine and his.

So, the concept of agriculture that Rousseau taught us, along with metallurgy, is used to transform agriculture because agriculture requires hand tools. Without tools, agriculture cannot be done. Therefore, all the tools discovered earlier in China were agricultural tools, such as sickles and hoes, which were used to create agricultural civilization.