Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Ian Johnston

Discourse on the Origin and the Foundations of Inequality Among Men - Jean-Jacques Rousseau - Translated by Ian Johnston. Discourse on the Origin and Basis of Inequality Among Men also commonly known as the "Second Discourse", is a work by philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Rousseau first exposes in this work his conception of a human state of nature, presented as a philosophical fiction (like by Hobbes, unlike by Locke), and of human perfectibility, an early idea of progress. He then explains the way, according to him, people may have established civil society, which leads him to present private property as the original source and basis of all inequality. The text was written in 1754 in response to a prize competition of the Academy of Dijon answering the prompt: What is the origin of inequality among people, and is it authorized by natural law? Though he was not recognized by the prize committee for this piece (as he had been for the Discourse on the Arts and Sciences) he nevertheless published the text in 1755. Rousseau's text is divided into four main parts: the dedication, the preface, an extended inquiry into the nature of the human being and another inquiry into the evolution of the human species within society. Also, there are a set of writings that expound upon important issues that were brought up in the beginning of the text. Rousseau discusses two types of inequality, natural or physical and ethical or political. Natural inequality involves differences between one man's physical strength and that of another – it is a product of nature. Rousseau is not concerned with this type of inequality and wishes to investigate moral inequality. He argues moral inequality is endemic to a civil society and relates to, and causes, differences in power and wealth. This type of inequality is established by convention. Rousseau appears to take a cynical view of civil society, where man has strayed from his "natural state" of isolation and consequent freedom to satisfy his individual needs and desires. In the work, Rousseau concludes that civil society is a trick perpetrated by the powerful on the weak in order to maintain their power or wealth.

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