El problema político en el origen de las lenguas: Rousseau develado

Abstract

On this article I pretend to prove, against the common sayings and first evidences, that the main theme of Rousseau’s Essai sur l’origine des langues, it is not that of its title neither that of its explicit development as it would seems, but that of the origin of societies, i.e., the modern political problem par excellence. On this basis, first I will show that the origin of languages problem in Rousseau’s thought is a persistent one since his early works, so I analyze it in his Discours sur l’origine, et les fondamens de l’inégalité parmi les homes to get a clear idea about its first public appearance and to have the means to compare its development in the essay that holds up this theme in its title. Then I will focus my attention not in the explicit arguments of the Essai sur l’origine des langues, but in the intention of the examples used by Rousseau in this work to reveal that the most significant problem of the Essai is no other than the origin of the societies.