In this third episode in the State of Nature series we look in detail at Rousseau's account of the "pure state of nature" from the Discourse on the Origin and Basis of Inequality Among Men (1755). We pay special attention to Jean-Luc Nancy's reading of the transition from the state of nature to the social contract.

A copy of the diagram used in the video can be found here: https://www.monash.edu/__data/assets/image/0004/2686018/Rousseaus-state-of-nature-table.png

A video version of the episode is available on the social contract research network YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgNR0pMw_VQ).

Written version: https://wp.me/p8nzID-p3A

The Social Contract Research Podcast is an initiative of the Social Contract Research Network. To find out more about the SCRN, and to subscribe to email updates, please visit https://www.monash.edu/arts/languages-literatures-cultures-linguistics/social-contract-research-network

SCRN YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq7geWYdmGE3kIcJrw8Ebsw

This video essay is part of an Australian Research Council funded Future Fellowship project "Rewriting the Social Contract: Technology, Ecology, Extremism".