Introduction｜Go Bong-man

A Letter to the Republic of Geneva
preface
Essay on the Origin and Basis of Inequality Among Humans
- Part 1
- Part 2

Release? Humans are born equal, yet inequality plagues us everywhere.｜Go Bong-man
1.
Rousseau's life
2.
A Challenge to Conventional Beliefs: On the Art of Learning and On the Origin of Human Inequality
3.
Hypothetical inferences about human history
4.
Humans in their original natural state
5.
The Primitive Origins of Human Inequality
6.
How to heal an unfortunate civilization?

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Further Reading
About the Translator

1.
Are all people equal?
All human beings are created equal.
But in reality, this is not the case in society.
Wealth, education, and power are becoming the standards for evaluating individuals.
So, are all human beings truly equal? ​​Rousseau, known as the father of the French Revolution, already had this question in mind over 200 years ago, and reexamined the issues of equality and inequality from the very beginning.
He presents human life in a primitive natural state as the most ideal life.
This was a direct opposition to the ideas of the Enlightenment thinkers of the time, who pursued a progressive view of history based on scholarship and art.
Rousseau viewed human history as a process of decay and degeneration, not progress.
Based on this perspective, we infer the history of mankind and closely analyze how humans, who enjoyed equal and happy lives in a primitive natural state, became unequal through the formation of families, societies, nations, and classes.
We also reflect on what the root causes of inequality are and how to address them.
Discourse on the Origin of Inequality among Men shows that Rousseau's analysis of the problem of inequality, which remains unresolved, is still valid today.
It also makes us think about what message Rousseau's ideas, which inspired the French Revolution, give us at this point in the 21st century.

2.
Denouncing inequality
In his work, “Discours sur les sciences et les arts,” Rousseau argues that the development of science and art leads to the decline of morality.
Thus, he says, 'human history is an epic of misfortune and rampant vice, stained by the decline of morality that came with the advancement of civilization.'
A more advanced paper from this perspective is “On the Origin of Inequality among Human Beings.”
This book fundamentally explores the circumstances and process of human corruption.
Rousseau turns his attention to the unspoiled primitive society and becomes interested in the conditions of primitive society and the nature of primitive people.
And, arguing that human moral depravity is due to human desires pursuing inequality, it systematically explores how humans, who were originally equal, entered the path of inequality.
He argues that human inequality is due to the formation of communities, that is, societies, and the ownership and power that arise from them.
Rousseau's accusation of this unequal situation leads to a direct critique of civilization.
Thus, he concludes by denouncing the situation of modern civilization where inequality has reached its peak, that is, where “children command the old, fools lead the wise, and the majority of people starve and cannot afford even the bare necessities of life, while a handful of people have an abundance of luxuries.”

3.
A Challenge to Conventional Belief: The Origins of Inequality
This paper was written as an entry for a competition organized by the Dijon Academy on the question, “What is the origin of inequality among human beings, and is inequality permitted by natural law?”
This treatise, which defies all conventions and directly challenges existing prejudices, is a bold and pure expression of Rousseau's ambition and passion to reexamine human problems from the very beginning.
However, the Dijon Academy did not accept this writing.
Thus, Rousseau published this work in 1755, adding a long and solemn dedication called 'A Treatise on the Republic of Geneva'.
This book is largely divided into two parts.
Part 1 historically infers the fundamental nature of humankind before civilization, describing the state of nature in which humans cannot be subjected to the law of the strong, as free beings and completely liberated from the evil of inequality.
Part 2 deals with how human happiness was lost and how inequality among humans has developed.
In this book, which can be summarized as 'Men are born equal, but they suffer from inequality everywhere,' we can examine Rousseau's pioneering diagnosis of the misfortunes of humans living in this unfortunate civilization.