< Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 36.djvu
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ON THE NATURAL INEQUALITY OF MEN.

767

themselves as were the animals of each species before various physical causes had produced, in some of them, the varieties which we observe. In fact, it is not conceivable that these first changes, by whatever means they were brought about, altered, at once and in the same way, all the individuals of a species; but some having become improved or deteriorated, and having acquired different qualities, good or bad, which were not inherent in their nature, the others remained longer in their original state; and such was the first source of inequality among men, which is more easy to prove thus, in a general way, than to assign exactly to its true causes. ("Discours," preface.)

In accordance with this conception of the origin of inequality among men, Rousseau distinguishes, at the outset of the "Discours," two kinds of inequality:

the one which I term natural, or physical, because it is established by nature, and which consists in the differences of age, health, bodily strength, and intellectual or spiritual qualities; the other, which may be called moral, or political, because it depends on a sort of convention, and is established, or at least authorized, by the consent of mankind. This last inequality consists in the different privileges which some enjoy, to the prejudice of others, as being richer, more honored, more powerful than they, or by making themselves obeyed by others.

Of course the question readily suggests itself: Before drawing this sharp line of demarkation between natural and political inequality, might it not be as well to inquire whether they are not intimately connected, in such a manner that the latter is essentially a consequence of the former? This question is indeed put by Rousseau himself. And, as the only answer he has to give is a piece of silly and insincere rhetoric about its being a question fit only for slaves to discuss in presence of their masters, we may fairly conclude that he knew well enough he dare not grapple with it. The only safe course for him was to go by on the other side and as far as the breadth of the road would permit; and, in the rest of his writings, to play fast and loose with the two senses of inequality, as convenience might dictate.

With these preliminary remarks kept well in view, we may proceed to the discussion of those fundamental theses of the "Discourse" and of the "Social Contract" which Rousseau calls the "principes du droit politique." Rousseau defines his object thus:

Je veux chercher si dans l'ordre civil il peut y avoir quelque règie d'administration légitime et sûre, en prenant les hommes tels qu'ils sont et les lois tels qu'elles peuvent être. Je tâcherai d'allier toujours dans cette recherche ce que le droit permet avec ce que l'intérêt prescrit, afin que la justice et l'utilité ne se trouvent point divisées.[1] (I seek to know if there may be in the civil order any legitimate and sure rule of civil administration, taking men as they are and laws as they might be. I shall try to combine in this research what the law permits with what interest prescribes, so that justice and utility shall not find themselves divided.)
  1. ↑ "Contrat Social," livre 1er. Compare Hobbes's dedication of "Human Nature" written in 1640: "They who have written of justice and policy in general do all invade each other
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