Theory and Political Practice in the Second Discourse

Abstract

In Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s Discourse on the Origin and Basis of Inequality Among Men (also known as the Second Discourse, 1755) there is a tension between the theoretical and the practical aspects. The theoretical part that we deal with here is the so-called natural state, a state to which we do not have any empirical access. Nevertheless, it is that state which constitutes the point of departure of the argument and the core of the explanation. In consequence, it has been argued that the natural state is equivalent to literary fiction and as such cannot be the basis of a text which has political and social implications. This paper examines literary critic Paul de Man’s reading of the Second Discourse, pointing to the importance of including Rousseau’s ideas on language—ideas that appear both in the Second Discourse and in his Essay on the Origin of Languages (1791). For the Genevan philosopher, the origin of language is related to passions rather than communication, and this relationship points to the importance of figuration. Figuration is not a secondary use of language but its very origin. This is why figurative language has preeminence over literal language, and it points to the importance of this distinction for a reflection on the origins of inequality.