From the feeling of pity to the possibility of other social and political configurations

Abstract

Although the way in which the passage from the natural man to the social man occurs is not the object of a detailed investigation by Rousseau, since he states that it is the result of fortuitous accidents, the consequences of this passage are not negligible. The long description of this process in the Second Discourse makes us understand that denaturation tends to result in vices and violations; however, going through Rousseau's works we find arguments to think that that credible story does not condemn humanity. Our purpose in this article will be to investigate in this first movement of exit from one's own individuality the possibility of a socialization based on virtue and commitment to the other. The difficulty of this project stems from its own assumptions – the fortuitous accidents that lead people to meet and live together do not prepare them for this new stage. Conviviality awakens passions that stifle, although they do not annihilate, the original feeling of piety.  We will then discuss the possibility of stimulating this feeling, in order to favor a socialization process that recognizes the other as equal and establishes mutual commitments between people in the context of social and political life.