What Does it Mean to be Human? Individual and Society

One historically important tradition in social and political philosophy is called "Social Contract Theory." It gives a way of thinking about what it means to be human, raising fundamental questions such as: what is human nature, in itself, apart from society? Are people fundamentally equal, and if so, why, in what ways? What justifies governmental authority? In what sense are people free and independent if their lives are ruled by laws and governmental authorities?

Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679), and John Locke (1632-1704), were English philosophers who approached these questions by hypothesizing a "state of nature." Try to imagine what a

How did Victor's masculine gender socialization shape his character? Was it one important variable in why he abandoned the creature?

person would be like if he or she lived outside of any governed society. Hobbes thought that people would be isolated, desperately afraid of harm from others. Life would be, in Hobbes' memorable phrase, "poore, solitary, nasty, brutish and short." Locke wasn't quite so pessimistic. He thought that in the state of nature, people would be fairly sociable, and would establish private property and trade. Both Hobbes and Locke thought that insecurity in the state of nature would lead people to join together and give to a governmental authority the right to make laws and punish offenders. Hence, for them, government is based on a "social contract," by which free, equal, and independent individuals move from the state of nature to an organized society.

Shelley, Mary. 1818. Frankenstein. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1996.

In Frankenstein, Shelley shows how men's lives are diminished by not having emotional skills and sensitivities. As long as Victor is within the affectionate domain of the family, with his mother and Elizabeth to do the emotional labor of maintaining a humane family-society, Victor thrives. But when he leaves his affectionate home, and pursues knowledge single-mindedly, he experiences emotional disorder. One way to illustrate this is to ask, "Why did Victor abandon his own creation after giving it life?" The stated answer is because the creature was hideous. But we can be skeptical about this response; after all, Victor had been working with decomposing corpses for two years, and should have become thoroughly desensitized to ugliness in the process. An alternative response is that Victor rejected the creature because he had not learned how to nurture his own off-spring, nor had he acquired the skills to deal with his own emotional responses. After Victor's shock on encountering the live creature, his friend Clerval comes, and basically plays the female role of caring for him.

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. Emile. 1762. translated by William Boyd, New York: Columbia University, 1956.

Mary Shelley's mother, Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797), was an outspoken critic of the complementarity theory. In Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), Wollstonecraft gives a scathing critique of all social hierarchies, including the clergy, the aristocracy, the military, and gender roles, arguing that when positions are based on differences in power, people at both ends of the hierarchy are corrupted; neither group develops reason and virtue. Those at the top base their actions on their ability to wield power, while subordinates become servile or manipulative.

What emerges from Rousseau's description is two people, exemplifying the complementary theory of gender roles, neither of whom is a particularly appealing character. Emile thinks he is independent and in control; he doesn't see that he is being manipulated, and that he lacks autonomy in the sense tha

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Approximate Word count = 2030
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)