There were many philosophers and theologians by whom Rousseau's work was inspired. However, Thomas Hobbes was especially influential. Thomas Hobbes wrote of many ideas about nature that he believed to be true, as it relates to the state of human life. One idea in particular, which Rousseau admired in his book, Reveries of the Solitary Walker, was that "The right of Nature...is the liberty each man has to use his own power, as well as himself, for the preservation of his own nature; that is to say, of his own life; and consequently of doing anything, which in his own judgement and reason he shall conceive to be the aptest means thereto (Davidson, 9)." From philosopher Thomas Hobbes, to name only one, Rousseau borrowed conceptions of nature, altered them, added to them, and began a journey of his own through his writing. It is within the pages of his book, Reveries of the Solitary Walker, that we see where he arrived.

Through Rousseau's accounts of his long walks; his days and nights within the boundaries of nature, his appreciation for it's natural beauty is apparent. He speaks of the pleasure that nature brings to his soul and the ability it has to sustain him for the rest of his days, without another need. He has described his stay on St. Peter's Island in the middle of Lake Bienne: "They let me spend two months on this island, but I would have spent two years there. I consider these two months the happiest time of my life, so happy that it would have contented me for my whole existence without the desire for another state arising for a single instant in my soul (Rousseau, Fifth Walk)."