Origins Of Inequality
Inequality can be broadly defined as the difference in circumstance, most commonly referred to in a political context regarding social and financial disparity between the economic classes in society. This means that some inherently are more privileged than others, either through luck, inheritance or hard work. Inequality can either be viewed as systemic to human nature and ultimately helpful to keep society intact, as Edmund Burke argues in his work as shown in “The Portable Edmund Burke”, or can be seen as a diversion from our innately good self due to the modernization of society and lack of strong social contract as Jean Rousseau asserts jointly in his work “The Origins of Inequality” and in “The Social Contract”. After an in-depth analysis
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In the “Origins of Inequality”, Rousseau strives to show how current ethical disparities, that are created by an arrangement amongst the people, does not at all resemble the natural state of men. This ‘natural state’ being one of happiness, stemming from ignorance of good and evil and that “The first sentiment of man was that of his existence, his first care that of preserving it” meaning we humans naturally claim what they believe belongs to them, and everyone should be able to have equal share on that land (Rousseau, 12). This idea of natural state and natural law plays a large role in Rousseau’s work, arguing that we should have stayed with a “simple, unchanging and solitary way of life that nature ordained for us” (147). To analyze his idea of these laws innate to human nature, Rousseau furthers that we must first contemplate these innate qualities and plot how these inherent characteristics have been modified throughout the years to create what we recognize as modern society. He first starts by speculating what a man untainted by modernity would be like by constructing his own origin story through his own speculative interpretations. He then builds his argument that as mankind has gradually become more obsessed with hierarchy, we have compounded the problem of inequality, stating it is mainly due to the fact that this obsession “breeds pride and reflection” which “turns man inward into himself; reason which separates him from everything which troubles or affects him” (Rousseau,
In the “Origins of Inequality”, Rousseau strives to show how current ethical disparities, that are created by an arrangement amongst the people, does not at all resemble the natural state of men. This ‘natural state’ being one of happiness, stemming from ignorance of good and evil and that “The first sentiment of man was that of his existence, his first care that of preserving it” meaning we humans naturally claim what they believe belongs to them, and everyone should be able to have equal share on that land (Rousseau, 12). This idea of natural state and natural law plays a large role in Rousseau’s work, arguing that we should have stayed with a “simple, unchanging and solitary way of life that nature ordained for us” (147). To analyze his idea of these laws innate to human nature, Rousseau furthers that we must first contemplate these innate qualities and plot how these inherent characteristics have been modified throughout the years to create what we recognize as modern society. He first starts by speculating what a man untainted by modernity would be like by constructing his own origin story through his own speculative interpretations. He then builds his argument that as mankind has gradually become more obsessed with hierarchy, we have compounded the problem of inequality, stating it is mainly due to the fact that this obsession “breeds pride and reflection” which “turns man inward into himself; reason which separates him from everything which troubles or affects him” (Rousseau,