Notes on Individualism and Human Nature in Robinson Crusoe
Analysis of Individualism and Human Nature in Robinson Crusoe
Abstract
This paper aims to analyze human nature in different political stages in Robinson Crusoe.
It includes comparative examples from Gulliver’s Travels.
It also studies the theories of Thomas Hobbes and John Locke on individualism and human nature.
Hobbes and Locke were 17th-century philosophers known for their political philosophies on human nature and the development of social societies and governments.
Daniel Defoe’s views on human nature in Robinson Crusoe are similar to those of Hobbes and Locke.
The novel shows both individualism and egocentricity in Robinson Crusoe’s character, along with his fears and doubts.
Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, a satire on human nature written in the same period, also points out and criticizes different emotions in human psychology.
Keywords: Individualism, human nature, egocentricity, social society
Introduction
Human nature has always been analyzed because of its complexity and incoherence. It is often seen as egoistic and self-centered.
Humans are believed to have rights and reason, setting them apart from animals.
Hobbes and Locke focused on the evolution of modern societies from nature, considering human psychology and the mind.
Defoe's Robinson Crusoe reflects these features, aligning with the philosophers' thoughts on human nature.
Gulliver’s Travels satirizes different emotions in human psychology.
Hobbes’ and Locke’s Political Philosophy
Hobbes and Locke advocated for human beings’ right to be free and their equality, particularly in the state of nature.
Hobbes, in ‘On the Citizen,’ emphasized people’s individualism, stating they seek to satisfy their own interests.
In nature, some see themselves as superior.
According to Locke, liberty in nature means freedom from any superior power on earth.
Hobbes believed that in the state of nature, people might harm others due to humanity's greedy nature. Freedom is unlimited, and individuals can do what they deem necessary to preserve their lives.
Locke, while defending equality and freedom, valued the rights of others and advised against infringing on those rights.
Locke and Hobbes both agreed on self-defense and the right to punish invaders and rebels to preserve lives.
Hobbes argued that people can't judge their own faults objectively due to arrogance, leading to biased perspectives.
Grant described Locke as a political and intellectual individualist who advocated for the independent use of reason against prejudice.
Both philosophers viewed ‘The State of War’ as destructive, resulting from hostility and egoism.
Locke suggested entering society to avoid the state of war.
Laws in society curb human arrogance and violent desires.
Locke emphasized the need for a society and government to make people more reasonable.
Hobbes didn’t favor laws as much, viewing them as psychological impediments limiting freedom.
Mill stated that civil law removes liberty where it speaks.
Locke focused on property, arguing that people have a right to properties gained through labor.
Money enables the enlargement of property.
Locke defended parental authority but believed children should act freely when of age.
Hobbes advocated for complete parental dominion, comparing children to slaves.
Locke believed people once lived in small family groups accepting the father's authority.
Grant explained Locke's four kinds of social and political organizations:
Family.
Political societies.
Incorporation of families for protection.
A community with a government.
Robinson Crusoe
Daniel Defoe is generally considered closer to John Locke in political philosophy.
Defoe's political philosophy can be observed in Robinson Crusoe, starting with the emphasis on individualism and the development of political societies from families.
Novak explained that Defoe believed human nature was governed by self-love and vanity, making it prone to corruption.
Defoe was considered a conservative in his religious identity, attributing many things to God.
Like Locke, Defoe valued law and government, as he felt they provided actual freedom.
All these views are represented in Robinson Crusoe. The novel depicts the development of political societies and human nature through Robinson Crusoe’s character.
Individualism
At the beginning of the novel, Robinson Crusoe is portrayed within his family and society, displaying a rebellious and individualistic nature.
His desire for freedom is evident when he expresses his intent to run away and go to sea.
He is always thinking of going away, expanding his business and property.
The narrative, told in the first person, reveals this individualistic approach, showing his biases.
After a storm at sea, his changing mind shows obstinate and obsessed human nature.
This egoism can be seen as a criticism of people's egocentricity.
His habitation in Brazil forms a small community, which marks the beginning of a political society.
Crusoe’s ambition leads him to Africa for slave trade.
He feels isolated in Brazil and England, demonstrating his strong sense of individualism.
Gulliver’s Travels can also represent individualism through Gulliver’s travels and his hatred of man.
In Lilliput, Gulliver being bigger than the citizens symbolizes the tendency to see oneself as superior.
Crusoe’s survival on the island completes the freedom he wished for.
Watt noted that Crusoe enjoys absolute freedom from social restrictions, like family ties or civil authorities.
Upon reaching the shore, he acts ungrateful, denoting the ungrateful nature of human beings.
He becomes the owner of the island.
Just as men do in the state of nature, Crusoe focuses on preserving his life.
Defense and resistance, key concepts in Hobbes’ and Locke’s philosophy, are displayed when he makes a shelter for himself.
Crusoe displays features of human nature analyzed by Locke and Hobbes.
Novak noted that despite being seen as an enterprising economic man, Crusoe is always afraid and cautious.
He is scared by natural events like earthquakes and storms, and is afraid of people because of a footprint he sees, showing he may not be fit to be alone without people.
The brutal nature of humanity causes people to distrust each other.
He carefully debates his condition and uses his reason, a vital trait for human nature.
Crusoe keeps a book and writes a diary showing his reasonable wit.
As Crusoe settles, he sees himself rightful to own things in the island, just like in the philosophy of Locke.
Crusoe says he was king and lord of all the country and had a right of possession.
He mentions his property eagerly, showing its importance.
He sees Friday as his servant as soon as he saves him, which shows the instinct to be Godlike and superior.
He needs a savage, not a friend, showing that men hardly leave their pride in society.
Crusoe commands and orders Friday, choosing to give him a name.
Häusermann stated that this reckless attitude results in a strong impulse to dominate.
When he saves the captain and other men, he asserts that he is the authority.
Defoe criticizes human nature through Crusoe, who is not aware of his own nature while criticizing the society.
The criticism of human nature is clear in Gulliver’s Travels, satirizing the human condition.
The corruption of human beings is presented in Lilliput.
All the people in the four different worlds that Gulliver visited lack some emotions.
Gulliver faces the deformity of human reason and pride through Houyhnhnms.
Swift’s criticism reaches its height when Gulliver can not touch his wife.
The giants may represent European governments, while Laputas represent philosophy without practical application.
The presentation of human nature as brutal is clear in Robinson Crusoe.
Locke and Hobbes cited that people are tempted to fight in the situation of rivalry.
The cannibals represent the brutality of primitive communities.
Novak stated that Defoe believed the state of nature gradually gave way to violence.
Crusoe first asks Friday if they fight well.
This is a kind of exploration of human nature and its interest in battle.
Crusoe’s freedom in the island brings his economic individualism.
He is a perfect businessman.
Novak stated that Crusoe’s sensibility is concerned with material things and he keeps excellent account of the results.
He cultivates his own food and breeds animals. When he is in the island he gets the goods from the shipwreck, putting him in a capitalist one.
Watt explained that this economic freedom is the cause of individualism.
Crusoe is economically powerful even when he goes back to England.
His old neighbor continued his job, and he sends an amount of money to his sisters.
Crusoe’s freedom and power make him more egocentric.
Defoe was a conservative religious writer, so we see Crusoe’s religious development.
He is free to believe in God and pray.
He prays when he is afraid, which is natural.
He realizes the existence of God when he sees grain that was grown without any seed.
He is in confusion with God, showing Defoe’s religious character.
Novak emphasized Defoe’s religiousness.
He calls the help of God when he tries to redeem his faults.
He finds and keeps the Bible.
Defoe opposes the idea of religious individualism.
Religion and civilization remove the primitive instincts of human beings.
Novak cites that Crusoe thinks of being an unreasonable creature before his recognition of religion.
Political Development
Grant explains that Locke analyses how political societies developed from pre-political family groups. Locke’s division can be seen in Crusoe.
It is about the transition from the family to the island, then to a governmental society, then tyranny with Crusoe’s authority.
Crusoe’s condition parallels the stages of humanity.
Novak stated that Robinson Crusoe survives and becomes the king of his island.
The first community is the family, from which Crusoe escapes, mirroring Locke and Hobbes that it's the smallest unit in society formation.
The family is a conservative metaphor used with commonwealth; there is an inequality.
That is why Crusoe rebels, and he is regretful in the island.
He says it would have made a stoic smile, to have seen him and his little family sit down to dinner.
His escape from his family is defined as his ‘original sin’.
His marriage highlights the significance of having a family.
In families, fathers are seen like dictators.
Hobbes adds that the children are like slaves owned by their masters.
Crusoe's escape implies the right of the children to go away, alike Locke's views.
The island is the second community and a metaphor for England.
References to England prove this analysis.
The island presents stages through Robinson and the others' interaction.
Crusoe generally yearns for a company.
We see the transformation of the state of nature to the government.
Novak stated that Defoe attached credence to civilization. Crusoe is obsessed with the idea of getting out of the island, but fails. He is very happy in all things, except society.
It can be understood that Defoe praises civilization.
Crusoe makes Friday civilized.
When the population increases, they need some laws to live harmoniously.
Crusoe is still the authority because of his work.
They live according to Hobbes and Locke’s philosophy.
He claims his authority and says that while you stay on this island, you will be governed by my orders.
The captain calls him governor.
The concept of ‘consent’ is very important.
There is an agreement done among the people by the force of the authority.
Hobbes states that the mutual transferring of right, is that what we call contract.
Watt explains that our civilization is based on contractual relationships.
His society becomes like a democracy.
Novak regards it as Defoe’s probable ‘concept of the ideal government’.
Mill stated, according to Hobbes, we are morally bound when we make contracts with others.
In need of protection, Crusoe’s group turns into a kind of tribe, like Locke explains.
Crusoe sees himself as a commander.
That is what Hobbes and Locke define as the state of war.
His society changes into a tyranny.
Crusoe and his men get out of the island and goes to the civil society in England.
His individualism and comfort is still emphasized.
He is in a perfect economic individualism, since money expands possessions.
Conclusion
Daniel Defoe’s political philosophy is alike to Hobbes and Locke’s views.
The evil side is more dominant in the state of nature.
Although humans are free in nature, they need other people for protection.
People should enter society for social order.
Furthermore, people are always individualist.
Robinson Crusoe is a good to explore human nature, since it focuses on psychology.
We can see almost all the theories of Hobbes and Locke on individual perspectives.
The presence of Robinson Crusoe is useful to present psychology in different circumstances.
Literature and social life are interrelated.
Watt stated that economic individualism increased the mobility of the individual.
Social incidents shapes literature, and literature also affects society.
References
Grant, Ruth W. 1988. ‘‘Locke's Political Anthropology and Lockean Individualism’’. The Journal of Politics, Vol. 50, No. 1, pp. 42-63.
Häusermann, Hans W. 1935. ‘‘Aspects of Life and Thought in Robinson Crusoe’’. The Review of English Studies, Vol. 11, No. 44, pp. 439-456.
Hobbes, Thomas. 1998 (1651). On the Citizen. Ed. Richard Tuck. Cambridge University Press.
Hobbes, Thomas. 1985 (1651). Leviathan. Ed. C.B. Machperson. Penguin.
Locke, John. 1998 (1688). Two Treatises of Civil Government. Ed. P.Laslett. Cambridge University Press.
Mill, David van. 1995. ‘‘Hobbes's Theories of Freedom’’. The Journal of Politics, Vol. 57, No. 2, pp. 443-459.
Novak, Maximillian E. 1961. ‘‘Robinson Crusoe's Fear and the Search for Natural Man’’. Modern Philology, Vol. 58, No. 4, pp. 238-245.
Novak, Maximillian E. 1961. ‘‘Robinson Crusoe's \"Original Sin\" ’’. Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900, Vol. 1, No. 3, Restoration and Eighteenth Century, pp. 19-29.
Novak, Maximillian E. 1962. ‘‘Crusoe the King and the Political Evolution of His Island’’. Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900, Vol. 2, No. 3, Restoration and Eighteenth Century, pp. 337-350.
Novak, Maximillian E. 1963. Defoe and the Nature of Man. Oxford University Press.
Watt, Ian. 1968 (1957). The Rise of the Novel. Penguin Books, Great Britain.
Watt, Ian. 1996. Myths of Modern Individualism. Cambridge University Pres.