Amazon.com: A Discourse Upon the Origin and the Foundation Of The Inequality Among Mankind eBook: Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Kindle Store

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This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.

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3.0 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)

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23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars nice, April 21, 2009

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Robert W. Smith "Robert Smith, Ph.D." (Virginia, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Discourse Upon the Origin and the Foundation Of The Inequality Among Mankind (Kindle Edition)

In this work / the author does a fine job of presenting a theory on the inequalities of man. It is his first publication and it does seem to show less refinement than later works. This piece is much shorter than Emile but it echoes of it. It is sort of Darwinian / just a century before Darwin. I give this an A minus. It is highly recommended.

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10 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Rousseau wrote better than he thought., August 28, 2010

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J. Miller (Portland, OR) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Discourse Upon the Origin and the Foundation Of The Inequality Among Mankind (Kindle Edition)

Okay, so Rousseau's deal is that in his totally imaginary (which he freely admits) State Of Nature, people are good and happy because they don't have to deal with each other -- it's only when people come into contact with each other that they become unhappy and status competitions begin, so society should be working for a point where... people won't come into contact with each other anymore? It's barely even an interesting thought experiment anymore, as it's been so frequently parroted by modern nostalgia for a simpler time when, really, there weren't many people in the world and even fewer of them that each individual knew to care about. This isn't great philosophy: he's using a false premise to essentially complain about the way he chose to live his life.

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I conceive two species of inequality among men; one which I call natural, or physical inequality, because it is established by nature, and consists in the difference of age, health, bodily strength, and the qualities of the mind, or of the soul; the other which may be termed moral, or political inequality, because it depends on a kind of convention, and is established, or at least authorized, by the common consent of mankind. &quote;

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This species of inequality consists in the different privileges, which some men enjoy, to the prejudice of others, such as that of being richer, more honoured, more powerful, and even that of exacting obedience from them. &quote;

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In proportion as he becomes sociable and a slave to others, he becomes weak, fearful, mean-spirited, and his soft and effeminate way of living at once completes the enervation of his strength and of his courage. &quote;

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