Rousseau's "A Discourse on Inequality"

Maurice Quentin de La Tour-
Portrait of Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778) - ~18th century

In class on Saturday we discussed the need for pre-nineteenth century authors to include a religious context in their works, regardless of their personal beliefs. The working theory here is that if they were outed as atheists, or even agnostics, their entire body of work would be tainted and disregarded by both academic circles and the general public. We suggested that a self-proclaimed white-supremacist would have a similar reception in modern times.

With that in the back of my mind, I had a hard time getting through Rousseau's "A Discourse in Inequality". His constant comparison of "man" and "savage" is distracting at the least, insulting in truth. According to Rousseau, if you "pit a bear or a wolf against a savage. . . you will find that the danger will be at least mutual" (83), and "savages die in the end without others noticing that they have ceased to exist and almost without noticing it themselves" (84).

With phrases like these, it's easy (and tempting) to disregard everything that Rousseau has to offer. But then I came across this phrase: "Which was the more necessary, a society already established for the invention of language, or language already invented for the establishment of society?" (96-97), and this quote "So far has ignorance of vice been more advantageous to the Scythians than knowledge of virtue to the Greeks'" (Justin qtd in Rousseau 99) and I was hooked, drawn in deeper to his arguments about the roots of inequality and the nature of man.

If I can overlook the possibility that Plato thinks that there are spirits and gods walking on the earth, how can I not overlook the sheltered, naive and casual racism that Rousseau leans on to make his arguments?  I fear that these sentiments are still around in modern day, and every part of me resists accepting them, to the point where I cannot suspend my disbelief to look around them.  Essentially, although I can see some value in his theory that socialisation provides a basis for inequality, I am unable to distance myself from the fact that he is basing his ideas on the understanding that ancient, primitive man is equivalent to his views of the noble savage.

As I can confidently state that the people he is basing his arguments had a much more complex, mature and organised society than he perceived, his method and proofs of argument completely undermine his conclusions in my eyes. That being said, I am swayed by his theories about the rise of society, greed, and materialism being the root of social inequality, even as I believe that his logic is flawed.

Works Cited:
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. A Discourse on Inequality. Trans. Maurice Cranston. New York: Penguin, 1984. Print.