Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Equality Is The Soul Of Equality In Society

INTRODUCTION

“Equality is the soul of liberty; there is, in fact, no liberty without it. “ - Frances Wright

Among the billions of natural beings in this world, innumerable inequalities abound. People are different and unequal in many aspects. They belong to different races, religions, sexes, nations and so on. Their physical, genetical and mental abilities also differ. People differ with how they approach life and are taught to live their lives. The range of inequalities and disparities that humans display is very wide this is an accepted fact. Yet, as humans we believe, and rightly so, according to one’s own perspective that

In its general usage, Equality is a very vague and wide term. The word equality originates from the latin word, aequalitas which basically means ‘equal’. Through the following few pages, we would like to give you a better understanding of the above-mentioned

Rousseau advocates equality in society. He advocated an equal distribution of rights but not an equal distribution of rank. For instance he does not, reject differences in property and rank, as has been seen when he says “Distributive justice would be opposed to the rigorous equality of the state of nature, even if it were practicable in civil society.” Throughout, Rousseau’s political writings he has remarked on a single theory of distributive equality. He implies that Political inequaities are wrong because they do not respond to natural inequalities and states that with the devopment of private proeprt and more complex human society, private property is invented, and the labour necessary for human survival is divided among different indivisuals for the whole. This division of labour and the beginning og private poerperty llow the property owners and all those who live off the labour of others to dominate and exploit the