Discourse On Inequality - Couverture souple

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 1419116169 ISBN 13 : 9781419116162

Editeur : Kessinger Publishing Co, 2004

Synopsis

""A Discourse On Inequality"" is a philosophical treatise written by Jean Jacques Rousseau in 1754. The book explores the origins and nature of inequality among human beings and argues that inequality is not a natural state, but rather a product of societal structures and institutions. Rousseau posits that in a state of nature, before the advent of civilization, humans were equal and lived in harmony with each other and the natural world. However, with the emergence of private property, social hierarchies, and political power, inequality became entrenched and has persisted throughout history. Rousseau also critiques the prevailing Enlightenment ideas of progress and reason, arguing that they have led to the glorification of individualism and the erosion of community and social bonds. He proposes a return to a simpler, more communal way of life, where individuals are free to pursue their own interests within the context of a shared social contract. Overall, ""A Discourse On Inequality"" is a seminal work of political philosophy that continues to influence contemporary debates on social justice, inequality, and the role of government in society.It Is Of Man That I Have To Speak; And The Question I Am Investigating Shows Me That It Is To Men That I Must Address Myself: For Questions Of This Sort Are Not Asked By Those Who Are Afraid To Honour Truth. I Shall Then Confidently Uphold The Cause Of Humanity Before The Wise Men Who Invite Me To Do So, And Shall Not Be Dissatisfied If I Acquit Myself In A Manner Worthy Of My Subject And Of My Judges.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.

A propos du livre

Biographie de l'auteur

JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU was born in Geneva in 1712. Abandoned by his father at the age of ten he tried his hand as an engraver's apprentice before he left the city in 1728. From then on he was to wander Europe seeking an elusive happiness. At Turin he became a Catholic convert; and as a footman, seminarist, music teacher or tutor visited many parts of Switzerland and France. In 1732 he settled for eight years at Chambéry or Les Charmettes, the country house of Madame de Warens, remembered by Rousseau as an idyllic place in the Confessions. In 1741 he set out for Paris where he met Diderot who commissioned him to write the musical articles for the Encyclopédie. In the meantime he fathered five children by Thérèse Levasseur, a servant girl, and abandoned them to a foundling home. The 1750s witnessed a breach with Voltaire and Diderot and his writing struck a new note of defiant independence. In his Discours sur les sciences et les arts and the Discours sur l'origine de l'inégalité he showed how the growth of civilization corrupted natural goodness and increased inequality between men. In 1758 he attacked his former friends, the Encyclopaedists, in the Lettre à d'Alembert sur les spectacles which pilloried cultured society. In 1757 he moved to Montmorency and these five years were the most fruitful of his life. His remarkable novel La nouvelle Héloise (1761), met with immediate and enormous success. In this and in Émile, which followed a year later, Rousseau invoked the inviolability of personal ideals against the power of the state and the pressures of society. The crowning achievement of his political philosophy was The Social Contract, published in 1762. That same year he wrote an attack on revealed religion, the Profession de foi du vicaire savoyard. He was driven from Switzerland and fled to England where he only succeeded in making an enemy of Hume and returned to his continental peregrinations. In 1770 Rousseau completed his Confessions. His last years were spent largely in France where he died in 1778.

Présentation de l'éditeur

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.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Kessinger Publishing Co
• Date d'édition: 2004
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 1419116169
• ISBN 13: 9781419116162
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 80
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
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