Analysis Of Discourse On The Origin And Foundations Of Inequality

Throughout Western political history, political philosophers held different views towards the doctrine of natural rights. Locke believed that everyone is equally entitled to universal natural rights while his critics argued that only a small population actually enjoys those rights while the majority are denied access to the rights available to them through their society. Thus inequality became a critical issue that concerned various philosophers from the 18th century up until present day in today’s society. Rousseau expresses the inequality amongst men through his famous work “Discourse on the Origin and Foundations of Inequality” and his social contract theory advocating the rights of the wealthy rich men along with the poor people of his time. Karl Marx, 19th century thinker, addresses the inequality of European people who lived in a capitalistic

These two different groups were treated unequally when Rousseau’s concept of “the government acted as an instrument of the rich while suppressing the poor.” (Lecture) He argues that the rich and the poor individuals living in a civil society are influenced differently by the state of war. The dilemma usually occurs when the private property of individuals was at stake in their living community during the timeframe of the French and American Revolution. During the 18th century, the discussion of Rousseau’s view on the origin of government shows that natural rights were only given to the wealthy rich people thus limiting the poor, which was the majority of the population at the time, from having access to the rights that the minorities of the population enjoyed. The inequality amongst men can be overcome by establishing a social contract that requires individuals to transfer all of his or her own rights to the whole