Tag: Inequality

Topics

Major Works

  • Discourse on the Origin of Inequality (Second Discourse)

    - Recommended translation: Second Discourse, in Rousseau: The Discourses and other early political writings, ed. and trans. by Victor Gourevitch (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997), 111-222. First published in 1754.
    Rousseau’s Discourse on Inequality, also referred to as the Second Discourse, was published in 1755 in response to an essay competition held by the Academy of Dijon on the question of what was the “the origin of inequality among men” and whether… More

Other Works

  • Discourse on Political Economy

    - Recommended edition: "Discourse on Political Economy," Jean-Jacques Rousseau: The Basic Political Writings, trans. Donald A. Cress, Hackett Publishing Company, 1987. Fist published in 1755.
    Excerpt: Even if there were as close an analogy as many authors maintain between the State and the family, it would not follow that the rules of conduct proper for one of these societies would be also proper for the other. They differ too much in extent to be… More

Commentary

  • Jean-Jacques Rousseau

    - Allan Bloom, “Jean-Jacques Rousseau,” in History of Political Philosophy, edited by Leo Strauss and Joseph Cropsey (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987) pp.533-553.    
    Excerpt: Rousseau begins the Social Contract with the celebrated words: “Man was born free, and everywhere he is in chains. . . . How did this change come to pass? I do not know. What can make it legitimate? I believe I can resolve this question.” With… More

  • The Discourse on the Origin and the Foundations of Inequality among Men: On the Intention of Rousseau’s Most Philosophical Work

    - Heinrich Meier, “The Discourse on the Origin and the Foundations of Inequality among Men: On the Intention of Rousseau's Most Philosophical Work,” trans. by J. Harvey Lomax, Interpretation, 16 (1988-89): 211-228.
    Excerpt: Rousseau in the Confessions called the Discours sur l’inegalite that piece  among all his writings in which his principles “are made manifest with the  greatest boldness, not to  say  audacity.”  That does not mean, to be sure,… More