Audiobook · read by volunteers
À Discourse Upon the Origin and the Foundation of the Inequality Among Mankind
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778)
Read by ej · 6 chapters · 2 h 45
About the book
What made human beings unequal, and was it ever natural? In 1754 Jean-Jacques Rousseau answered a prize question set by the Academy of Dijon with this daring essay. He imagines how people may have lived before societies and laws existed, creatures simple and self-sufficient, and then asks how property, rivalry and dependence arrived and gradually bound them in chains. His conclusion is provocative: much of what we call civilisation has made us less free and less happy. Written with passion and rhetorical flair, the Discourse mixes philosophical argument with sharp social criticism. Whether you find its picture of early humanity convincing or not, it is a landmark in political thought, and listening to it is a short, stimulating way to meet the ideas that shaped modern debates about equality. It is a short book that has started long arguments.
Introduction
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778) was a philosopher, writer and composer born in Geneva who spent much of his life in France. He wrote the Discourse on the Origin and Foundation of Inequality Among Mankind in 1754 for a prize question set by the Academy of Dijon; it won no prize, but when it appeared in print the following year it established him as an original and controversial voice. Its ideas shaped his later works on society and education, and it influenced many thinkers who came after him.
The recording follows the structure of the essay: an opening, then the Discourse proper in two parts, the first dealing with the state of nature and the second with the rise of society and inequality. Rousseau claims that earlier philosophers had projected the habits of their own time onto early humanity and so failed to grasp how deeply civilisation transforms human nature. Readers still argue over how literally he meant his portrait of natural man, which makes the work a lively basis for reflection.
Rousseau’s writing is persuasive even for those who resist his conclusions, and the Discourse contains many passages that have become famous in the history of ideas. Listening to the argument unfold in a human voice helps clarify its structure, and the notes and asides show a thinker in lively conversation with his predecessors.
Six recordings, about 2.8 hours in all, are read by a LibriVox volunteer. The argument is dense but short, and it is easy to follow if you take it in two sittings, one for each part, pausing to ask whether you would have answered the Academy’s question in the same way.
Public domain
Jean-Jacques Rousseau died in 1778: the work is in the public domain in Switzerland, more than 70 years after the author’s death.
The LibriVox volunteers dedicated this recording to the public domain.
Sources : LibriVox page · Files at the Internet Archive · Original text