full title  ·  Discourse on the Origin and the Foundations of Inequality among men.

author  ·  Jean Jacques Rousseau

time and place written  ·  November 1753 - June 1754, France.

date of first publication  ·  May 1755

purpose  ·  The Discourse was written as a Prize Essay for the Dijon Academy of Arts and Sciences. Rousseau's first Discourse, on the Arts and Sciences won first prize in the same competition in 1751. This one did not.