Why is there inequality among mankind. Rousseau tries to answer this by looking back on the history of mankind and explaining that before societies developed, people were much more compassionate and human to one another. As society developed inequalities developed and were imposed upon mankind. People needed to survive and instead of merely strength and compassion allowing people survival of the fittest,societal norms and prejudices developed. The state of nature that Rousseau could hypothesize about in the primitive island cultures he studied gave way to a society were wealth, and privilege took precedence over compassion and self expression. Society as it became so called civilized actually felt victim to more than self preservation. People saw and evaluated themselves and were measured and evaluated by other people and their imposed real and artificial standards. Being rich gave prestige and power, not being kind and compassionate. These traits can even be inherited and not earned by compassion for one fellow human. Wealth was the measure of inequality in society now, not survival of the fittest or the most kind or compassionate leader of men. This measurement of value in the eyes of others unevaluated the true nature of man for humanitarian survival and imposed different standards of value in society. Self importance became more based on societies perceptions than natures innate demands for an humanitarian and kind, existence of compassionate caring society. Instead artificial values and measurements based on pride and self preservation based on societal norms and wealth and power became the motivation of people in contemporary society.
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