A Discourse Upon the Origin and the Foundation of the Inequality Among Mankind (Illustrated Edition‪)‬

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (28 June 1712  – 2 July 1778) was a major Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer of 18th-century Romanticism. His political philosophy heavily influenced the French Revolution, as well as the overall development of modern political, sociological and educational thought. His novel, Émile: or, On Education is a seminal treatise on the education of the whole person for citizenship. Rousseau's autobiographical writings: his Confessions, which initiated the modern autobiography, and his Reveries of a Solitary Walker were among the pre-eminent examples of the late 18th-century movement known as the Age of Sensibility, featuring an increasing focus on subjectivity and introspection that has characterized the modern age. Rousseau was also a successful composer and made important contributions to music as a theorist. During the period of the French Revolution, Rousseau was the most popular of the philosophers among members of the Jacobin Club. He was interred as a national hero in the Panthéon in Paris, in 1794, 16 years after his death.

Rousseau’s Discourse on the Origin of Inequality and On the Social Contract are cornerstones in modern political and social thought and make a strong case for democratic government and social empowerment. Discourse was written in 1754 in response to a prize competition of the Academy of Dijon answering the prompt: What is the origin of inequality among men, and is it authorized by natural law? Though he was not recognized by the prize committee for this piece (as he had been for the Discourse on the Arts and Sciences) he nevertheless published the text in 1755.

This edition of Rousseau’s Discourse Upon The Origin and The Foundation of The Inequality among Mankind is illustrated and specially formatted with a Table of Contents.