Was Rousseau's 'noble savage' a literal concept?
The 'noble savage' is not a literal depiction of an actual human being in a pristine, uncorrupted state. Rather, it is a philosophical construct used to illustrate how society and its institutions have corrupted humanity's natural goodness. By contrasting the imagined simplicity of a pre-social existence with the complexities and vices of civilized life, I sought to highlight the detrimental effects of social artifice.
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