ABSTRACT
Hobbes was clearly an important foil for Rousseau, who both admired and attacked him on a range of such issues as the two swords;1 the state of nature,2 where he takes a contrary position;3 and the nature of man.4 Regarding the latter, he also comments on the ‘dangerous reveries’ which Hobbes has left among the ‘extravagances of the human mind.’5 These extravagances surely referred to the nature of man: ‘Above all, let us not conclude with Hobbes that because he has no idea of goodness man is naturally wicked, that he is vicious because he does not know virtue, that he always refuses to those of his kind services which he does not believe he owes them.’6 Of equal importance, he rejects Hobbes’ analysis of sovereignty.7
