Influences of Antagonistic Views of Nature on Understanding of Humanity : In the Case of Rousseau and Nietzsche

The aim of this study lies in considering, in the case of Rousseau and Nietzsche, how strongly the antagonistic views of nature influenced the understanding of humanity (human nature). Both Rousseau and Nietzsche criticized the modern European civilization and sought to recover the "nature" in human beings. However, at least, Nietzsche didn't assume that Rousseau was his forerunner. On the contrary, he criticized Rousseau as the greatest enemy. The reason for it can be explained from the difference of their basic views of nature. First, as for Rousseau, the total structure of human beings is made clear according to his Discourse on the Origin of Inequality (1755). In this book, his trust in the nature (also human nature) is important, Next, Nietzsche's criticism of Rousseau is analysed mainly in his manuskripts The Will to Power (1906). According to Nietzsche, the recovering of the nature was attempted in the Renaissance, but Rousseau had made the trend to spoil it. The nature of Rousseau's model was feeble and romantic. But the nature in the model of Nietzsche was rude and dynamic. To understand various aspects of humanity (human nature), it is decisively important to grasp the basic views of nature behind them