“Also, if all humans are basically good, what is this ‘environment’ they speak of? some kind of entity on its own? doesn’t make sense.”
I think that’s a perfect summary of the basic problem with Rousseau. The way he stated it was, “Man, in a state of nature, is good.” He originated the term. Noble Savage.
If that’s so, what would people run into in “nature” that would make them bad? The commie materialists don’t have a real answer for that.
Incredible that they don’t have an answer for their most important assumption