He asked himself, cannot equality be
realised in an organised state, founded on natural right? The Social
Contract was his answer, and there we can see the living idea of
equality detaching itself from the dead theory of degradation.
[Footnote: The consistency of the Social Contract with the Discourse
on Inequality has been much debated. They deal with two distinct
problems, and the Social Contract does not mark any change in the
author's views. Though it was not published till 1762 he had been
working at it since 1753.]
Arcadianism, which was thus only a side-issue for Rousseau, was the
extreme expression of tendencies which appear in the speculations of
other thinkers of the day. Morelly and Mably argued in favour of a
reversion to simpler forms of life. They contemplated the foundation
of socialistic communities by reviving institutions and practices
which belonged to a past period of social evolution. Mably, inspired
by Plato, thought it possible by legislation to construct a state of
antique pattern.
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