POST 1 : The myth of the noble/good savage
A noble savage is a literary stock character who embodies the concept of the indigene , outsider, wild human, an " other " who has not been "corrupted" by civilization , and therefore symbolizes humanity's innate goodness. Besides appearing in many works of fiction and philosophy, the stereotype was also heavily employed in early anthropological* works . The idea that humans are essentially good is often attributed to the 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury . In his Inquiry Concerning Virtue (1699), Shaftesbury had postulated that the moral sense in humans is natural and innate and based on feelings, rather than resulting from the indoctrination of a particular religion . In English, the phrase Noble Savage first appeared in poet John Dryden's heroic play, The Conquest of Granada (1672) : I am as free as nature first made man, Ere the base laws of servitude began, When wild in woods the noble savage ran. * Anthropology is the scie