Introduction:-

Jean-Jaques Rousseau (1712-78) was a mid - eighteenth century French philosopher who captured
the spirit of the modern age most closely and influenced the ideas and events of his times most
profoundly. His own life was that of a wayward, even a perverted, genius. He was born in Geneva in
a French family. His father was an eccentric who never took a job seriously, wandering from watch-
making to dancing, hunting and duelling. Jean- Jaques mother died in childbirth. So he grew up as a
neglected child, without proper education or discipline. He developed a sort of disregard for
conventional morals, such as keeping regular hours. At the same time, he indulged in the flight of
imagination which knew no limits whatsoever.

In the early phase of his life, Rousseau refused to take apprenticeship in a trade in Geneva; ran away
from home and left the city at the age of sixteen. Unlike other philosophers of his times, he had a
neither steady employment nor a noble patronage. His life was an unending series of wanderings
throughout Europe where he had some first- hand experience of real poverty and deprivation. He
married a women and had five children but he refused to accept the responsibility of his family. At
times he quarrelled with his patrons, cheated his friends and indulged in other immoral acts. It is
said that his sense of guilt and troubled conscience led him to an attempt to recapture his lost
innocence and seek moral redemption which is reflected in his literary and philosophical writings.

A definitive turn in Rousseau’s academic and philosophic career came at the age of 37 (1749) when
he came across an advertisement of essay competition organised by the Academy of Dijon in France.
The subject the of the essay was: ‘”Has the Revivals of Sciences and the Arts Helped to Purify or
Corrupt Morals?’ . In a flash of inspiration, Rousseau realised that the progress in these spheres had
the opposite effect. He participated in a context and won a prize. He argued that the progress in the
Sciences and the Arts was illusionary: that the so called sciences were causing the ruin of the
mankind. Furthermore, the developments in the modern culture had failed to make men happy or
virtuous. He maintained that virtue could flourish only in simple societies. The more sophisticated a
culture, the more corrupt it is likely to be. Rousseau presented his view so eloquently and in such a
convincing manner that he became famous over -night. This essay was published as a monograph
entitled Discourses on the Sciences and the Arts(1750). His other important work on political
philosophy include: Discourses on the Origin of Inequality(1754); Discourse on Political
Economy(1755) and The Social Contract (1762). His leading literary works include: Emile(1762)
which is a novel embodying Rousseau’s political philosophy; and The Confessions (1782) which
contains Rousseau’s autobiographical account.

Incidentally, some parts of Rousseau’s Emile contain his retrograde comments about women. In a
nutshell, he holds that women are by nature inferior to men, but nature has made them cunning to
compensate for their weakness. Rousseau favours complete subordination of women to men to
avoid becoming emotionally dependent on women.

Analysis of Inequalities :-
Early hints of Rousseau’s attitude towards the problem of inequality may be found in his Discourse
on the Sciences and the Arts (1750). It gives a vivid description of the state of nature and the
morally corrupting impact of civilisation on human life. He describes natural man as a ‘noble savage’
living a life of idyllic blissfulness and primitive simplicity. He states that men in the state of nature
are equal, self sufficient and contented. But with the rise of civilisation, inequalities raise their head.
With the development of sciences and the arts, private property comes into existence, with the
consequent division of labour. So man becomes wretched under the influence of corrupt institutions
created by an unnatural civilisation. Rousseau came to conclusion that if man wants to recover the
original happiness and innocence, he must return to nature.

Rousseau’s second Discourse, i.e. the Discourse on the Origin of Inequality (1754) is a more
profound work. Here Rousseau makes a distinction between two types of inequalities: Natural
Inequality and Conventional Inequality ( i.e. moral and political inequality). Natural inequality
among men is manifested in the differences of their physical strength, aptitude and character.
Conventional Inequality , on the other hand, is the product of our civilisation. This type of inequality
was unknown in the state of nature. Rousseau thinks that primitive man’s major virtue is that of pity
which makes him directly understand the sufferings of others. It tends to cultivate a sense of
community and companionship among human beings in the state of nature. Rousseau strongly
believed that primitive societies like those of the indigenous Americans and Africans were the ‘best
for men’. He argued that the rise of civilisation, far from being a boon, is always accompanied by
costs that are greater than its benefits.

In this Discourses, Rousseau speculates about the rise of civilisation. He observes that geography
and accident were the roots of the fall from nature. Some men began to live along the sides of rivers
for better conditions of living; others continued to live in forests in search of food . Natural
catastrophies like earthquakes and lightning led to the discovery of fire; and the urge for meeting
the growing scarcity of things led to the discovery of metals and invention of agriculture.

When men learnt the art of control over nature and production through labour for their
consumption, conception of private property slowly entered into human consciousness. This marked
the real beginning of civilisation which ruined humanity. Civil society was founded on this
conception.

The first man who, having enclosed a piece of ground, bethought himself of saying ‘this is
mine’’, and found people simple enough to believe him, was the real founder of civil society.

(Discourses on the origin of inequality;1754)

In due course, the actual inequalities as manifested in the moral and political inequality became
more glaring, and the slavery of most men to civilisation became more widespread.

In his Social Contract, Rousseau begins his argument with the description of the existing state of
civilisation. By now he has realised that his proposal for ‘return to nature’ given in his earlier
Discourses was no longer feasible. So he embarks on rebuilding moral foundation of civil society.
Thus he proceeds:

Man is born free but is everywhere in chains. Many a one believes himself the master of
others, and yet he is greater slave than they.”
Rousseau, of course, maintains that liberty in the state of nature is a great boon. But In due course
of time, when population increases and treasures of nature starts depleting, it is no longer for men
to enjoy natural liberty as before. Multiplication of people’s want leads to a scarcity situation. The
nature that was so beautiful and bountiful is no longer able to sustain its blissfulness. When mother
is old, and children are grown up, they must pool their energies to create new resources through
their labour and ingenuity. In other words, when their natural liberty is threatened due to changed
circumstances, they must look to some alternative arrangement to save their freedom. The answer
is to transcend state of nature and enter into civil society where they will be blessed with civil
liberty.

Chart to be drawn.

In a nutshell, according to Rousseau, with the rise of population when nature is no longer able to
fulfil all human needs, labour becomes inevitable. Hence the need of transition from state of nature
to civil society. As a result, natural inequality among men is replaced by legal equality which provides
for the protection of each individual’s fruit of labour. By virtue of legal equality, all citizens become
equal in the eye of law in spite of their natural differences inherited from the state of nature.