Work
Discourse on Inequality
Overview
Discourse on the Origin and Basis of Inequality Among Men (French: Discours sur l'origine et les fondements de l'inégalité parmi les hommes), also commonly known as The Second Discourse, is a 1755 treatise by philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, on the topic of social inequality and its origins. The work was written in 1754 as Rousseau's entry in a competition by the Academy of Dijon, and was published in 1755.
Rousseau first exposes in this work his conception of a human state of nature and of human perfectibility, an early idea of progress. He then explains the way in which, in his view, people may have established civil society, and this leads him to conclude that private property is the original source and basis of all inequality.
Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).
Philosophers who discussed Discourse on Inequality
Related ideas
- Treatise
- Geneva
- Philosophy
- Private property
- Jean-Jacques Rousseau
- John Locke
- Samuel von Pufendorf
- The Social Contract
- Natural law
- State of nature
- Thomas Hobbes
- Age of Enlightenment
- Morality
- Peter Gay
Place in the tradition
Part of French philosophy.