Examining Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s Discourse on the Origin of Inequality.
This paper looks at the philosophical writings of Rousseau where he examines the natural state, the state of nature, from which man has been removed by civilization. Rousseau states that the idea of morality comes with the formation of civil society and precedes the formation of political society. In this work, Rousseau distances himself from the optimistic, enlightened, and progressive attitudes of the eighteenth century. The paper shows how Rousseau characterizes modern society as not only incorporating, but fostering and demanding, deep and hateful inequalities between people, leading them further and further into corruption and misery.
With the creation of private property, there developed a sense of insecurity and conflict leading to the creation of political society through the social contract. This was conceived of by Rousseau as a real contract between the governors and the governed, with the governors selected by the governed. This precludes a despotic form of government, at least at this stage, for such a form of government returns people to the state of nature in which all are the same and all moral distinctions vanish under the power of the despot. The social contract requires some form of consent. If we have become slaves, it is because we have ceded too much power to the despots and have allowed them to void the social contract.