Rousseau - Second Discourse on Inequality

Exordium:

• There are two types of Inequality in Humans:

  • Physical Inequality - differences in strength, age, health, mind/soul

• Moral/Political Inequality - disparity in the previleges that some people enjoy over others, such as the rich and powerful being more accepted and treated well than the poor.

• This type of inequality stems from the agreements and rules (conventions) that humans have created, such as property rights and social hierarchies

• The real issue of the discourse is to IDENTIFY:

  • How the Law replaced violence

  • How Nature was shaped by Law

  • How the strong served the weak, and how people traded happiness for an illusion of peace.

Not Required ^^

Part 1:

Summary: https://www.gradesaver.com/discourse-on-the-origin-of-inequality/study-guide/summary-part-one

Translation: https://ota.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/repository/xmlui/bitstream/handle/20.500.12024/2524/seconddiscourse.htm?sequence=4

• (1) Rousseau aims to examine human beings by looking at how they are today, not by going back generations to see how they evolved, such as in how they use their hands, where they look, etc.

• His focus is NOT on biological evolution, however important it is.

• Claims comparative anatomy has made little progress and naturalists' observations are too uncertain

• Humans, in their most natural state, are less strong and agile than other animals, but the best equipped for survival

  • They're able to satisfy their hunger beneath an oak, quench their thirst from a stream, etc.

• Humans in their natural state, dispersed among nature, observed and mimicked the instincts of various animals.

• The ability to imitate various animal instincts gives humans an advantage, as each animal is limited to its own.

• Men develop a strong nature ever since their birth, as they are exposed to changing weather, seasons, and are forced to defend themselves against other animals

• Nature favors the strongest men with the best qualities, and lets the other who have weaker qualities die.

  • Roussaeu notes this is in contrast to society's norm of killing children before their birth.

• (5) Civilized men have been more disconnected from nature, because they are outsourcing their jobs to tools like axes and horses.

  • Whereas savage men had to run and climb on their own, modern humans use ladders and horses.

• The best way to prove the inequality between the civilized and savage men is to make them fight naked, without anything with them. This will indicate that the savages have everything they could need

• (6) Rousseau refutes Hobbes' claims that man is always ready to attack, fearlessly, by saying that man is afraid in the state of nature when he encounters things he doesn’t know.

  • He acknowledges Cumberland and Pufendor's claim that men are always afraid in the state of nature, but clarifies it.

• Men are afraid of things when they're unable to distinguish whether they are good or evil, or whether they're weaker or strong.

• Men let go of fear when they realize they surpass an animal in their strength or agility.

  • As a result, when he encounters and fights a bear, the bear would be less inclined to fight him because it realizes man's strength.

• Men are just as skilled as other stronger animals, as even though they aren't the strongest, they compensate with other abilities, just like other weak species do - stealth, intelligence, ability to learn, etc.

• (7) Some other harmful agents to humans are: infancy, old age, and illnesses.

  • Both infancy and old age are experienced by both humans and animals

• In infancy, humans are better able to feed their babies with ease, whereas animals have to go back and forth to find and give good.

• But both babies have a chance of death if their mother dies. Both of them can't find food on their own

• In old age, the Savages don't experience illnesses such as gout or rheumatism, as they are physically active

STARTED HERE ON 2/22:

• (8) Rousseau claims that human diseases can be traced to civil societies, and that Savage men don't need medicine because they don't experience these diseases

• He questions whether a country that lacks quality healthcare/medicine has a shorter lifespan than a country that HAS quality medicine.

• When one sees that the only illnesses a Savage has is old age and wounds, he is motivated to believe diseases come from societies.

• Rousseau explains that many 'ills' originate from civil society, such as inequality - in terms of resources, money, shelter -, oppression, diseases, etc.

• As society expands, more standards of living emerge, and the distribution of resources results in an inequality at some point, and the establishment of a govt. can also potentially lead to unrest. All of these are 'ills' of CIVIL SOCIETY only.

• Considers the state of nature as free of 'ills' but that of wounds and old age.

2/23:

• (9) Says that the state of nature doesn't require much remedies, as there are few ways to get 'ill'.

  • Wounds heal with time in the state of nature, and the only unfortunate thing is the Savage has to depend on the natural process.

• On the other hand, he ONLY has to fear this wound, and this makes his state preferable over current society.

• (10) Wild animals are only weakened by being domesticated by humans - being fed and taken care of.

• They lose the physical vigor, knowledge, and responsibility to do this themselves.

•  They are more energetic and courageous in the wild

• Similarly, men also physically and mentally decline, grow fearful in a way when they become a part of society. All the luxuries - technology, shelter, ease of indulgence - only weaken men.

• (11) Rousseau argues that the luxuries that Savage men lack - clothing, shelther - aren't a bad thing, and nor is it an obstacle for their sustenance. They don't inhibit their survival in any way

• Clothing - they make use of animal skin in cold weathers if they don't have a hairy skin.

• Those who do make clothing or shelter haven't made anything necessary, as they have survived until then without them.

• (12) Savage men must of necessity sleep a lot because they don't think a lot besides for their self-preservation. When they are at a sustainable state, they sleep.

• Their only goal or aim is self-preservation, and all their important bodily powers are directed towards either attacking or defending themselves.

• Their sight, hearing, and smell are very acute - Savages of America and Hottentots.

• (13) Rousseau discusses the METAPHYSICAL AND MORAL SIDE of men from here on, from the Physical Side.

• (14)

• A common theme is that when humans or animals adapt into societies, utilize some sort of technology, and live according to norms such as hierarchy, they lose their natural physical abilities to do things that they could do in a State of Nature.