The horror of this contrast, which left Voltaire cold, was the poignant motive which inspired Rousseau, a man of the people, in constructing his new doctrine.

The existing inequality seemed an injustice which rendered the self-complacency of the age revolting.

If this is the result of progressive civilisation, what is progress worth?
The next step is to declare that civilisation is the causa malorum and that what is named progress is really regress.

But Rousseau found a way of circumventing pessimism.

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.