Reading Guide for Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s (1712-1778) Discourse on the Origin of Inequality (1755)

Maurice Quentin de La Tour, pastels on paper, Musée Antoine Lécuyer, 1753
See 1766 portrait of Rousseau in Armenian costume here

"What is the origin of inequality among men, and is it authorized by the natural law?" (Rousseau 16).

Why care about Rousseau?

- influential philosopher even in modern times

- in his own time as well: French Revolution, Republicanism, raising children

Rousseau influenced the Romantics:

- promoted nature and natural law over those of society

- rebel -- questioned religion, society, conventions

- spoke of sentiment and feelings

Context

• Classical texts and references about government, being, and man and/vs. nature

• The Enlightenment and the "gospel of material progress" dominated 18th-century mores (Miller v).
  

• The growth of trade and industry in large cities like Lyons and Paris (Miller v).

• The Debate over Natural Law & Rights (Rousseau 13)

• Buffon's Natural History (Miller ix)

• Travel narratives about European colonization of the Americas (Rousseau 21, 74, 82)

• Traditional readings of the Bible, which placed men above and apart from animals, and natives yet to be Christianized (34)
  

• "savage man" (l'homme sauvage) = native peoples
  
• the noble savage
  

Rousseau's Polarities:

Vocabulary

• revolutionary: Rousseau uses the term revolution in the sense of "change, upheaval" ("Revolution").
  

• slavery: When Rousseau uses the term slave, he is not always referring to slavery in North America. Rather, he seems to refer to the condition of being subject to, or "under the domination of" another ("Slavery").

Works Cited

Miller, James. "Introduction." Discourse on the Origin of Inequality by J. J. Rousseau. Indianapolis: Hackett, 1992. v-xviii. Print

"Revolution." Oxford English Dictionary. 2012. Web.

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. Discourse on the Origin of Inequality. Trans. Donald Cress. Indianapolis: Hackett, 1992. Print.

- - -. Discourse on the Origin of Inequality. Trans. Donald Cress. Indianapolis: Hackett, 1992. Web.

"Slavery." Oxford English Dictionary. 2012. Web.