The concepts of Original Sin and Noble Savage are bookends on a continuum of the inherent nature of Man.
Noble Savage, as promoted by Rousseau during The Enlightenment held forth that man was born perfect. Not only was he made in the image of God. He was a god. Evil was entirely due to the warping and distortions of society and of social inventions like religion.
Original Sin as commonly understood held forth that man, though made in the image of God, is a fallen creature that needs socializing in order to function as a moral element within God's economy.
Noble Savage is a seductive concept. The less we parent, the less we formally instruct, the less we incarcerate, the better our citizens will be.
While seductive, especially to those whose role it is to parent and instruct and rehabilitate, the overwhelming evidence is that feral children from single-parent families are not "Noble".
You have to be willfully blind to believe that the inherent nature of Man is good and honorable and generous. Fifteen minutes of watching two two-year-olds play in a sandbox when there is only one toy-shovel should be enough to convince anybody that children don't pop out-of-the-womb wanting to share.
allan bloom wrote on this in the closing of the american mind
ReplyDeleteNo they don't...neither do 'adults', as we see regularly. Sometimes there needs to be a 'parent' of some type step in.
ReplyDeleteI think the job of "Parenting" is so dynamic and complex that it takes two of them. Kids get "unconditional love" vibes from their mother and they get a sense of "self-worth is earned" from their dad. Yes, families deviate from that but it is the baseline.
DeleteThose are very different, core concepts.
I've said it in many a sermon; the proof that we are born with a sin nature is that no child has ever had to be taught how to lie. Scarecrow
ReplyDeleteAnyone who has raised children knows the answer. It is a measure of the insanity of the 'intellectual' class there is even a question. Man is a fallen creature, there never were any Noble Savages.
ReplyDeleteRousseau conceptualized this without having to experience it firsthand; had he only lived to The French Revolution, he might have had the opportunity to view it first hand.
ReplyDeleteI have always thought of original sin as the natural process all independent humans have as a result of God given free will. It is needed for humans to leave mom and dad and cleave to a spouse. It is bad when a two year old demands to run into the street. Woody
ReplyDeleteAlso if mary had no original sin she would not have a choice, in being the mom of God. Woody
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