Rousseau’s Inequality Among Men

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Rousseau’s Inequality Among Men
Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s “Discourse on the Origin and Foundations of Inequality Among Men,” gives an insightful way to view the way inequality an injustice came about and how we should respond to it. His discourse is, more or less, a critique of the social contract as viewed by some of his constituents. Rousseau agreed with John Locke and Thomas Hobbes on varying ideas regarding the state of nature and the social contract, but his ideas of a social contract are different in many ways. In this essay I will explain Rousseau’s view of human nature, his ideas of private property, and how a civil society came into place and the impact this had.
Rousseau did not feel that the state of nature was all that natural. He questions if there ever even was a state of nature and if there was, how do we get back to it. He states that the ‘Holy Scriptures’ mention the first man was given enlightenment and precepts immediately from God and Moses never spoke of this state of nature (414). However, Rousseau does agree with John Locke that all humans are born free and autonomous. Unlike Locke, he feels that there is no reason in the state of nature and that moral or political inequality is not authorized by natural law. Like Hobbes, Rousseau thought that a condition outside of society contains no morality. Rousseau felt that virtues, or natural goods, did exist in the state of nature and two virtues existed prior to reason. He felt that self-preservation and compassion for others were the two natural virtues that existed in the state of nature. Unfortunately, these virtues are altered as we enter a social contract. According to Rousseau this occurs because Human Nature is malleable.
Rousseau’s view of private property gives a better look at how the civil society was created. He did not feel that society was natural rather that the simplicity of the ‘noble-savage’ was preferred to society. ...