Discourse on the Origin of Inequality Rousseau writes in answer to a question proposed to him, namely, what is the origin of inequality? Almost all of the philosophers writing before him tended to assert that certain things were inherent in man’s original nature, and that this lead to the origin of government and law. Rousseau, however, takes a different approach. He argues that modern man is way to far away from the original state of nature to be able to understand it, and that ‘by dint of studying man we have rendered ourselves incapable of knowing him.’ (853) As for inequality, most people would argue that ‘men [are] by common c