The author Jean Jacques Rousseau wasthe son of a French watch maker. Rousseau had an odd background. His educationwas not regular and he tried many sources of employment. His only true talentwas in his writing. Rousseau won a prize given by the academy of Dijon for a discourseto the question “whether the progress of the sciences and of letters has tendedto corrupt or to elevate morals.”  Theacademy of Dijon was extremely pleased with Rousseau’s work and his writing startedto gain attention. Later on, Rousseau wrote an essay called A Discourse on Inequality.

Rousseau wrote this essay in response to another question proposed by theacademy of Dijon. The question asked, “what is the origin of the inequalityamong mankind; and whether such inequality is authorized by the law of nature?”The main purpose of this essay is to explain how there is such vast inequalityamong men and whether this inequality is caused by nature or the rules ofsociety. The argument, Rousseau firstdescribes man and his natures. Rousseau goes into how we differ from animals.

The texts states how animals get their character by the elements in which theyare surrounded, and how humans don’t receive any of that character because ashumans our only tool is our body. Rousseau is arguing that if you take a man anduncover him, underneath we will find a weak animal. Rousseau’s A Discourse on Inequalitydiffers from the ideas of our current age