Editing Discourse on Inequality (section)

{{short description|1755 treatise by Jean-Jacques Rousseau}}
{{italic title}}
{{Refimprove|date=September 2008}}
[[Image:DOI Rousseau.jpg|thumb|right|350px|Frontispiece and title page of an edition of Rousseau's ''Discourse on Inequality'' (1754), published by [[Marc-Michel Rey]] in 1755 in Holland.]]
{{republicanism sidebar}}
'''''Discourse on the Origin and Basis of Inequality Among Men''''' ({{langx|fr|Discours sur l'origine et les fondements de l'inégalité parmi les hommes}}), also commonly known as the "'''Second Discourse'''", is a 1755 [[treatise]] by [[philosopher]] [[Jean-Jacques Rousseau]], on the topic of [[social inequality]] and its origins. The work was written in 1754 as Rousseau's entry in a competition by the [[Académie des Sciences, Arts et Belles-Lettres de Dijon|Academy of Dijon]], and was published in 1755. 

Rousseau first exposes in this work his conception of a human [[state of nature]] (broadly believed to be a hypothetical thought exercise) and of human perfectibility, an early idea of [[Progress (history)|progress]]. He then explains the way in which, in his view, people may have established [[civil society]], and this leads him to conclude that [[private property]] is the original source and basis of all [[social inequality|inequality]].