Rousseau's Post-apocalypse

[Ban]

Hi!

We all know the many Hobbesian post-apocalypses like Fallout, Mad Max, Walking Deadand the Road. In these worlds it is assumed that mankind is inherently selfish and that without a bureaucratic system to guide us that we will succumb to base desires.

My question is if there are stories where Rousseau's nature state is shown? Are there stories where people are portrayed as empathic, fullfilled in life and willing to cooperate? I believe in Rousseau's nature state. I think that it is more logical for people to be "good" regardless of the presence of a state and that people only became selfish because they began to feel alienated and insignificant in the large communities that we now live in.

So are there any books, tv-series or movies in which Rousseau's nature state is shown?

 

[CupofJoe]

Possible because there is less potential for "action" a Rousseau-ian world is less attractive to the creative ideal. I would say that even in the Mad Max and Walking Dead worlds [or in The Postman] most people are being helpful and co-operative, it is just that it is happening "off-screen".
It could be argued [and iirc] that as there has been at least one nuclear war and several other cataclysmic events in the Star Trek chronology it is post-apocalyptic. Gene Roddenberry designed that world to be co-operative and inclusive.

 

[Ban]

I suppose that is true. There is no real potential for action in Rousseau's nature-state so that excludes the possibility for very long, intricately written stories, but i thought that maybe someone knew of a short story.

And while i like the idea of Star Trek as a post-apocalypse , it can't be Rousseau-ian. Star Trek is a world with states, large organizations etcetera. Rousseau believed that these very institutions were the cause of human conflict and that we could only be truly peaceful if we reverted back to a natural way of life.