Rousseau's State of Nature and the Origin of Inequality

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778), born in Geneva, challenged both Hobbes and Locke in his Discourse on the Origin of Inequality, published in 1755. He argued that earlier theorists had projected the vices of civilized people back onto 'natural' humans. In Rousseau's imagined state of nature, people were solitary, simple and largely peaceful, guided by self-preservation (amour de soi) and natural pity for others' suffering. Inequality and conflict arose later, with settled society, comparison and the desire for esteem, which he called amour-propre.

Above all, he blamed private property: 'The first man who, having enclosed a piece of ground, thought of saying This is mine, and found people simple enough to believe him, was the real founder of civil society. ' Rousseau claimed the first social contract was a trick by the rich to protect their gains. Critics called his picture of natural humanity unrealistic, but his argument made inequality itself a central philosophical problem.