Discourse on the Origin of Inequality Among Men

Description

Discourse on the Origin of Inequality Among Men is a work by eighteenth-century philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Commonly known as the Second Discourse, it was first written in 1755 as an entry in a prize competition run by the Academy of Dijon, which asked the question: 'What is the origin of inequality among people, and is it authorized by natural law?' In the work, Rousseau begins with a dedication to the state of Geneva (where he was born), and goes on to discuss the nature of human beings and their instincts for self-preservation, and what he sees as the two types of inequality: natural and physical, and, moral and ethical.

Part of the Harvard Classics set.

This book has 33,374 words, 51 pages in the PDF version, and was originally published in 1755. This edition was taken from an anthology (Harvard Classics Volume 34) published in 1910.

Production notes: This ebook of Discourse on the Origin of Inequality Among Men was published by Global Grey on the 21st March 2022. The artwork used for the cover is 'Jean-Jacques Rousseau' by Allan Ramsay.