论人类不平等的起源和基础

Jean Jacques Rousseau in Discourse on the Origin of Inequality discusses two types of inequality, natural or physical and ethical or political. He also argues that inequalities of rank, wealth and power are the inevitable result of the civilizing process. This type of inequality is established by convention. The text 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?