Topic Two
Another account of human society besides the models of Rousseau and Hobbs
Graeber and Wengrow give a quick overview of the historical view of humanity and society from the viewpoints of Rousseau and Hobbs. Rousseau proposed the idea of the social contract which was based on property rights and the need of the government to adjudicate claims of ownership. Hobbs proposed the idea of selfishness, greed, and violence to dominate one’s fellow human beings who are perceived as a threat to the accumulation of scarce resources. Therefore the government is needed to constrain its citizens' baser instincts to harm one another. Graeber and Wengrow, after is brief description of the views of Rousseau and Hobbs , write:
This book is an attempt to begin to tell another, more hopeful and more interesting story; one which, at the same time, takes better account of what the last few decades of research have taught us. Partly, this is a matter of bringing together evidence that has accumulated in archaeology, anthropology and kindred disciplines; evidence that points towards a completely new account of how human societies developed over roughly the last 30,000 years. Almost all of this research goes against the familiar narrative, but too often the most remarkable discoveries remain confined to the work of specialists, or have to be teased out by reading between the lines of scientific publications.
Graeber, David. The Dawn of Everything (pp. 3-4). Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Kindle Edition.
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