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Discourse on the Origin of Inequality

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

G. D. H. Cole (1913)

Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Discourse on the Origin of Inequality (1755), the “Second Discourse,” was written for a prize competition of the Academy of Dijon on the question of what founds inequality among men and whether it is authorised by natural law. Rousseau imagines humanity in a hypothetical state of nature — solitary, free, and content — and traces how property, agriculture, and metallurgy gave rise to society, dependence, and the vast inequalities of the modern world. A cornerstone of political philosophy, it profoundly shaped Enlightenment and revolutionary thought. This is G. D. H. Cole's 1913 translation.

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Contents

  1. Dedication
  2. Preface
  3. Introduction
  4. First Part
  5. Second Part
  6. Appendix