His famous assertion that ‘Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains’ characterise a significant advocacy of individual liberty and constituted a challenge to arbitrary, despotic and absolute government, of his time and also a key landmark in the political and intellectual development of the idea of human rights. His works provided the theoretical basis for many of the ideas of the French Enlightenment. The Discourse on the Origin of Inequality, a work which solidified Rousseau’s reputation as a bold philosopher, illustrates the progression of man from a peaceful, noble state in nature to an imbalanced state in society, blaming the advent of various professions and private property for the inequality and moral degradation.
Inequality is one of the themes that have been amplified in human rights watch. In this discourse Rousseau attempts to trace the origin and source of inequality in human civil society and he begins with man in the state of nature. Rousseau presents man in the state of nature with perfectibility, this he accorded man prior to the establishment of civil society. According to Rousseau, civil society brought about private property resulting in inequality therefore his work also gives his idea on the nature of the human being.
I conceive of two kinds of inequality in the human species: one which I call natural or physical, because it is established by nature and consists in the difference of age, health, bodily strength, and qualities of mind or soul. The other may be called moral or political inequality, because it depends on a kind of convention and is established, or at least authorized ,by the consent of men. Rousseau (1987:37).
According to Rousseau there are two types of inequality which are natural and ethical, which can also be physical and moral inequality. Natural inequality arises in nature from the effect of one’s body against that of another that is, the difference in one human’s body and that of another, this type of inequality however Rousseau claims is not the root cause of inequality in civil society. Instead the inequalities characterized in civil societies is that of moral inequality as experienced in the differences in wealth, power, nobility or rank and personal merit. Rousseau accordingly emphasized the incredibility of this type of inequality as it is established by convention, and which prior tothe establishment of civil society was non-existent. Inequality hence cannot be found in the original state of nature where there existed equality, individual independence and freedom.
The source or basis for Rousseau’s rejection of the inequalities that exist among men is traced to his conception and analysis of the natural man who for Rousseau,presents the perfect incorruptible and original state of the human being reflected in his instinct for self-preservation, a love of self, a natural repugnance to suffering, a natural pity or compassion. Rousseau attempts to show the insignificance and non-credibility of the convention of men that gave rise to inequality. He therefore explores the origin of this convention; to achieve this he uses his thought experiment, the state of nature where he highlights the qualities and benefits of man as opposed to the degenerated man of modernity or civilization. Life for man in this state of nature is easy and free devoid of all the complexities that civilization has brought to mankind. Inequality thus is hardly noticeable in the state of nature and is therefore a creation of human activities. The natural man according to Rousseau is described as strong agile but more organised. The first part of the discourse being a reconstruction of the natural man, the second part explores the roots of inequality. In essence inequality according to Rousseau began when the idea that what originally and naturally belonged to all is allocated by few to themselves and addressed as belonging to particular individuals.
The first person who, having enclosed a plot of land took it upon his head to say ‘this is mine’ and found people simple enough to believe him, was the true founder of civil society. What crimes, wars, murders, what miseries and rumours would the human race have been spared, had someone pulled up the stakes or filled in the ditch and cried out to his fellow men do not listen to this impostor. You are lost if you forget that the fruits of the earth belong to all and the earth to no one”. Rousseau (1987:60).
Having enclosed a piece of land therefore, came the dawn of civilization and with all its accompaniments came inequality. It is necessary to point out that this inequality begins in the mind, the idea that people can own things that should be considered as belonging to all. As such Rousseau does not denounce property but the inequality of property. It is property theft or the inequality of property that created and institutionalised inequality between men. Symptoms of inequality such as work and oppression are consequences of property. This institutionalization of property gave rise to moral inequality, as there are now differences in status and it provides a yardstick to distinguish one human being from the other because, if people can own things then springs up all the differences based on ownership.
The idea that man can own things brought about the idea that he be distinguished based on what he owns thus the inequality of property. By this Rousseau implies that, property is what every man is entitled to in a state of nature and therefore should not be used to distinguish human beings .E.g. a king stripped of all his titles and ranks is similar to that original man in the state of nature at which point there exist no basis for inequality.
Since inequality is practically non-existent in the state of nature, it derives its force and growth from the development of our faculties and the progress of the human mind, and eventually becomes stable and legitimate through the establishment of property and laws. Moreover, it follows that moral inequality authorised by positive right (right established by civil society) alone is contrary to natural right whenever it is not combined in the same proportion with physical inequality. Rousseau (1987:81).
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