37 pages • 1 hour read
Jean-Jacques RousseauDiscourse on the Origin of Inequality
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1755A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Index of Terms
Metaphysics
A term that has largely gone out of fashion, metaphysics was a frequent subject of philosophic inquiry during the Enlightenment. It refers to the study of basic principles of reality and how human beings perceive it. Such facts cannot be observed, as they lie beyond the physical world, and so philosophers attempt to deduce conclusions from logic and available facts. Perhaps the most famous example of metaphysical reasoning is Rene Descartes’s declaration, “I think, therefore I am,” which affirms the reality of human existence through awareness of one’s own cognition.
Natural Law
Natural law is a philosophical concept that tries to identify moral principles that should be binding on all human beings regardless of their particular circumstances. It was closely associated with Catholic philosophers such as St. Thomas Aquinas, who argued that Humanity’s Capacity for Reason was bestowed by God so that people could learn and follow natural law. Rousseau reinterprets natural law as instinct guiding a human life led entirely according to nature, similar to animals that know to follow certain behaviors without any education. Jean-Jacques Rousseau argues that for human beings natural law ordains self-preservation and pity toward sentient beings.
Natural Right
Similar to natural law, natural right refers to what all human beings are entitled to simply by being human. Taking away someone’s natural right would then constitute a crime, regardless of the cultural context. Reason can deduce what a person needs for a decent life. The most famous formulation of natural right is Jefferson’s assertion of a right to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” in the Declaration of Independence. Natural right is subject to several controversies, including whether they extend to “positive rights” such as healthcare and education.
Savage
The word “savage” now has a negative connotation with brutality and crudeness, and it has often been used to justify the mistreatment of people who were viewed as being less “civilized.” Rousseau uses the term to identify someone utterly apart from and ignorant of modern society, living in harmony with nature. If anything, Rousseau regards the “savage” person as superior to modern human beings, who he regards as having become soft and corrupt in society.
Social Contract
The title of another famous work by Rousseau, the social contract was an important idea in Enlightenment political philosophy. It identifies the moment when human beings agreed to leave the state of nature and form a civil society, giving up complete freedom in favor of stability and the opportunity for greater prosperity. Rousseau’s depiction of the social contract, in both the book of that name and the second part of the Discourse on Inequality, emphasizes the idea of a contract as a voluntary association designed for the maximum benefit of all parties. Even if the social contract formally grants some people the right to execute the laws, abuse of that power essentially dissolves the contract and grants people the right to start over with new leaders.
State of Nature
The state of nature is a thought experiment that many Enlightenment philosophers used to uncover the most fundamental aspects of human nature. To understand how people truly are, it is necessary to strip away everything they acquire as members of society, such as their nationality, religion, race, and the social expectations of their sex or gender. Whatever remains constitutes the truth of humanity, and any socio-political order should base itself around these facts rather than the artificial aspects that have meaning only within a specific social context.
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By Jean-Jacques Rousseau
