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Primary sourceBook1754 (published 1755)

Discourse on Inequality

Jean-Jacques Rousseau · 1754 (published 1755)

Rousseau's 1755 treatise arguing that private property and civil society, not nature, are the source of human inequality.

Rousseau's own treatise setting out his theory that society, not nature, creates inequality among people.

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Open book spread showing the title page of Rousseau's Discours sur l'origine et les fondemens de l'inégalité parmi les hommes, Amsterdam, 1755, with red and black printed text and a engraved vignette of a seated woman. On the left page is an engraved plate of men in a landscape with a figure pointing.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discourse on Inequality, Amsterdam, 1755.

About this source

What it is

This is the title page of Rousseau's Discourse on the Origin and Basis of Inequality Among Men, written in 1754 for a competition held by the Academy of Dijon and published in 1755 in Amsterdam.

Why it matters

Rousseau argues that natural inequality between bodies is not the problem; instead, moral inequality—differences in wealth, rank and power—was created by civil society and especially by the invention of private property. The work directly challenges earlier thinkers like Hobbes and Locke on what humans were like before society existed, and shaped later revolutionary ideas about equality.

Look closer

  • Why do you think Rousseau dedicated this work to the Republic of Geneva, his home city?
  • What does Rousseau mean by distinguishing 'natural' inequality from inequality created by society?
  • How might Rousseau's ideas about a 'natural man' be used to question the fairness of 18th-century society?

This book is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Jean-Jacques Rousseau on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Title page of Du Contrat Social ou Principes du Droit Politique by J. J. Rousseau, citoyen de Genève, printed at Amsterdam by Marc Michel Rey, MDCCLXII. Below the text is an engraved allegorical figure of a woman holding scales and a staff, flanked by trees, with Latin mottos above her. A handwritten inscription appears at top right.Book

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The Social Contract

Jean-Jacques Rousseau · 1762

Sepia-toned mezzotint print of a man in a tall fur hat and fur-collared coat, with his hand raised to his chest, set on a page of a bound book. Caption below reads Jean Jacques Rousseau, Vitam Impendere Vero, after Ramsay, published by David Martin.Painting

Primary source

Portrait of Jean Jacques Rousseau

David Martin · 1766

Black and white line engraving of an oval portrait of a man with curled powdered hair, white cravat, and dark coat, seated and smiling slightly, set within an ornate framed border with laurel leaves, ribbons, a book inscribed with a title, and a lamp. Caption at bottom reads 'Publish'd 1st of April 1780 By Fielding & Walker Pater Noster Row'.Painting

Secondary source

Engraving of Rousseau after La Tour's Portrait

E. Ficquet, after Maurice Quentin de La Tour · 1780

Title page of the 1762 first edition of Emile, ou de l'éducation by J. J. Rousseau, citoyen de Genève. Red and black print; A La Haye, chez Jean Néaulme, Libraire; Tome Premier; MDCCLXII.Book

Primary source

Emile, or On Education

Jean-Jacques Rousseau · 1762

Engraved portrait print of a man with tousled hair and a fur-collared coat, seated and smiling slightly, framed by a stone-block border. A plinth below bears the Latin inscription 'VITAM IMPENDERE VERO'. Signed lower left 'De la Tour Pinx' and lower right 'R. Vinkeles Sc. 1764'.Painting

Primary source

Portrait of the French Writer Jean-Jacques Rousseau

R. Vinkeles, after Maurice Quentin de La Tour · 1764

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