inequality ↘↖
Origin and Basis of Inequality Among Men
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, one of the greatest figures of French enlightenment, discusses two types of inequality, natural or physical and ethical or political. Natural inequality involves differences between one man’s physical strength and that of another – it is a product of nature. Rousseau is not concerned with this type of inequality and wishes to investigate moral inequality. He argues moral inequality is endemic to a civil society and relates to, and causes, differences in power and wealth. This type of inequality is established by convention. Rousseau appears to take a cynical view of civil society, where man has strayed from his “natural state” of isolation and consequent freedom to satisfy his individual needs and desires.
For Rousseau, civil society is a trick perpetrated by the powerful on the weak in order to maintain their power or wealth. Rousseau examines man’s physical and mental characteristics and finds him to be an animal like any other, motivated by two key principles: pity and self-preservation. The only real attribute that separates him from the animals is his perfectibility, a quality that is vitally important in the process Rousseau goes on to describe. Man in the state of nature has few needs, no idea of good and evil, and little contact with other humans. Nevertheless, he is happy. However, man does not remain unchanged. The quality of perfectibility allows him to be shaped by, and to change in response to, his environment. Natural forces such as earthquakes and floods drive men into all parts of the globe, and force them to develop language and other skills. As men come into contact more frequently, small groups or societies start to form.
As men start to live in groups, pity and self-preservation are replaced by amour propre or “self love” or “self-esteem” or “self respect”, which drives men to compare themselves to others, and to need to dominate others in order to be happy. Essentially, the opposite of self-preservation (amour de soi). Amour propre is an acute awareness of, and regard for, oneself in relation to others.
The invention of property and the division of labor represent the beginning of moral inequality. Property allows for the domination and exploitation of the poor by the rich. Initially, however, relations between rich and poor are dangerous and unstable, leading to a violent state of war as in the case of the French revolution.
Rousseau’s account of the operation of society focuses on its various stages. Beginning with the trick played by the rich, he sees society as becoming more and more unequal, until the last stage of inequality, which is despotism, or the unjust rule of everyone by one man. This development is not inevitable, but it is extremely likely. As wealth becomes the standard by which men are compared, conflict and despotism become possible. For Rousseau, the worst kind of modern society is that in which money is the only measure of value.
