Discourse On The Origin Of Inequality By Jean-Jacques Rousseau

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Journal Entry #1 (ANT207)
“A Discourse on the Origin of Inequality” by Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a thought-provoking read, where Rousseau expressed his cynical views and emphasized the conventional, moral inequality in a civil society that he believed lead to the differences in power and wealth. Instead of focusing on physical inequality, his initial proposal was to investigate the nature of inequality among men and to see how natural law, as discussed by Locke, and Hobbes played out.
Before understanding natural law, Rousseau expressed that it is important to recognize the real nature of man, therefore stating that rational beings such as humans are the only ones that can take part in this natural law or share natural rights. In his view, these ideas of natural rights were based on the principles of …show more content…
In the natural stage, it was survival of the fittest where he placed emphasis on self-preservation and argued that a man in this stage will avoid bringing harm to another sentient unless he had no choice or was at risk. Since survival was crucial during this stage, the natural man only thought about his own self and accommodated to his exact needs. The natural man was in his prime condition, and exhibited strong and fast traits that showed the capability of caring for himself. He used these ideas to explain why animals are exempt from natural law and yet are given natural rights since they are sentient beings. The next stage, which is also the intermediate stage is referred to as the savage stage where man was independent or a loner as Rousseau put it, only responding to fulfill his own self-preservation. This stage is the beginning of one of Rousseau’s key arguments mentioning how property ownership or private property came to

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