On Inequality

A modern-English edition of Rousseau’s Discourse on the Origin and Basis of Inequality Among Men, first published in 1755. This is one of the foundational critiques of civilization, property, and social hierarchy in modern thought. This edition preserves Rousseau’s philosophical structure while making the prose clearer and more readable.

On Inequality asks how human beings moved from relative simplicity into forms of dependence, comparison, vanity, and domination. It is both a philosophical anthropology and a political critique.

For readers interested in inequality, the state of nature, and the roots of modern political radicalism, it remains a central work.