Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Rousseau

As I was reading Part II, I found myself struggling with Rousseau's concept of inequality within society. Rousseau claims that with the establishment of society comes the introduction of inequality and only in a savage environment does equality exist. But, if this is natural inequality he is speaking of, wasn't it always in place, only not realized? And, for that matter, can there even be equality among men who bear no relation to one another. So although with the introduction on society comes inequality, it seems inevitable. And, society also brings with it the structure, language and progress all of which would not be possible without the invention on society. So while one takes away from the liberty of man, the other breaks the constraints of the primivite world.

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