Description

Book Synopsis
In A Discourse on Inequality, Rousseau sets out to demonstrate how the growth of civilization corrupts man’s natural happiness and freedom by creating artificial inequalities of wealth, power and social privilege. Contending that primitive man was equal to his fellows, Rousseau believed that as societies become more sophisticated, the strongest and most intelligent members of the community gain an unnatural advantage over their weaker brethren, and that constitutions set up to rectify these imbalances through peace and justice in fact do nothing but perpetuate them. Rousseau’s political and social arguments in the Discourse were a hugely influential denunciation of the social conditions of his time and one of the most revolutionary documents of the eighteenth-century.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshel

Table of Contents
A Discourse on InequalityForeword
Introduction

Discourse on the Origins and Foundations of Inequality among Men

Rousseau's Notes
Abbreviations used in Editor's Introduction and Notes
Editor's Notes

A Discourse on Inequality Penguin Classics

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    A Paperback / softback by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Maurice Cranston, Maurice Cranston

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      Book details

      Publisher Penguin Random House Group
      Imprint Penguin Classics
      Published 25 October 1984
      ISBN-13 9780140444391
      978-0140444391
      ISBN-10 0140444394
      Also in:
      Politics, Philosophy & Society Social and political philosophy Social discrimination and social justice Jean Jacques Rousseau Books by Jean Jacques Rousseau

      Description

      Book Synopsis
      In A Discourse on Inequality, Rousseau sets out to demonstrate how the growth of civilization corrupts man’s natural happiness and freedom by creating artificial inequalities of wealth, power and social privilege. Contending that primitive man was equal to his fellows, Rousseau believed that as societies become more sophisticated, the strongest and most intelligent members of the community gain an unnatural advantage over their weaker brethren, and that constitutions set up to rectify these imbalances through peace and justice in fact do nothing but perpetuate them. Rousseau’s political and social arguments in the Discourse were a hugely influential denunciation of the social conditions of his time and one of the most revolutionary documents of the eighteenth-century.

      For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshel

      Table of Contents
      A Discourse on InequalityForeword
      Introduction

      Discourse on the Origins and Foundations of Inequality among Men

      Rousseau's Notes
      Abbreviations used in Editor's Introduction and Notes
      Editor's Notes

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