According to Rousseau, pity and compassion serve to preserve the entire race because "men would be nothing but monsters had nature not given men pity to go with reason" . This is a powerful statement that claims pity and compassion are as important tools of human nature as reason. Under this theory, Rousseau would argue that even a murderer feels pity when seeing another human die, and this is what makes this base feeling so important. This is significant because in Rousseau's State of Nature, the only two feelings are pity and compassion which is one reason why he feel's the State of Nature is better than the one we live in today.
Unlike Hobbes, who believed that humans were naturally evil, Rousseau claimed that it was impossible for humans to be evil in the State of Nature because they didn't know what "good" was. Not only this, but Rousseau claims: "calm of passions and ignorance of vice prevent them from doing evil" . A world without evil is one that is dreamt of by many, and so it is clear why this is another reason Rousseau prefers the State of Nature to today's world. .
One must challenge Rousseau's theory by asking: "If the world is so perfect in the State of Nature, how did it become what it is today?" According to Rousseau, humans were not naturally social creatures but become so because of the advent of grains, tool-making and permanent shelters. As soon as one single man realized it was more useful for a single individual to have provisions for two, equality disappeared, property came into existence and labour became necessary. In order to interact, humans then developed language, which eventually resulted in reason; it happened in this order because one cannot reason without thinking in words. Tool making results in a division of labour, skilled versus non-skilled, and permanent residence results in family settlement. Along with this, competition now arises because as humans realize there is more, they want more.
