eBook
hoopla Instant
Discourse on the Origin of Inequality
Year
2012
Language
ENGLISH
Publication Information
Dover Publications
Summary
A strikingly original inquiry into politics and human nature, the Discourse presents a theoretical view of people in a pre-social condition and the ensuing effects of civilization. In his sweeping account of social and political development, the author develops a theory of evolution that prefigures Darwinism and encompasses aspects of ethics, sociology, and epistemology. One of the most influential works of the Enlightenment, the Discourse on the Origin of Inequality offers both a thought-provoking account of society's origins and a keen criticism of unequal political institutions.