"A Discourse on Inequality" .

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                                                        Submitted By:  Denis Venderov

                                                                         Submitted To:   Professor D.S. Hutchinson

                                                                                               Co-Instructor: Paul Los

                                                                                             T.A. Janette Dinishak

                                                 Course:              PHL 102Y

                                                             Date Due:          February 13, 2003

Position Paper #5

Assigned Reading: Jean-Jacques . “A Discourse on Inequality” (part II).

Corruption among mankind.

        One of the leading political philosophers of his time, Jean-Jacques Rousseau presents in his work, "A Discourse on the Origin of Inequality", concepts that are original not only in terms of political theory, but economical and social theories as well. Through obtaining a fictitious state of nature, Rousseau’s Second Discourse leads to suggestion that man is inevitably corrupt as a result of natural and moral inequalities.

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        “The first man who, having enclosed a piece of ground, bethought himself of saying this is mine, and found people simple enough to believe him, was the real founder of civil society. From how many crimes, wars and murders, from how many horrors and misfortunes might not any one have saved mankind, by pulling up the stakes, or filling up the ditch, and crying to his fellows, "Beware of listening to this impostor; you are lost, if you once forget that the fruits of the earth belong to us all, and the earth itself to nobody." With these powerful words, Rousseau ...

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