Irony of progress
The main point of Rousseau's argument in The Discourse on the Origin of Inequality is also perhaps its biggest irony: progress actually takes us backward. Society—all the advances of civilization—is supposed to make up happier and more content, make our lives easier, give us more freedom. But Rousseau's argument is that the cause of inequality—and of all of our present unhappiness—is in fact civilization itself. All the things that we thought were helping us move forward and making our lives better in fact have made things worse. Rousseau's critique of modern civilization, and of enlightenment principles of progress, is fundamentally an ironic one.
Irony of man's self-perfectibility
Closely related to the irony of progress is that of man's self-perfectibility. It is man's capacity to change himself, to modify his nature—thus, his capacity for education, culture, and civilization—that distinguishes him from all other animals. In this sense, what makes man special is this capacity for changing his own circumstances. However, Rousseau argues, this capacity is also what has led to civilization—and thus to inequality, and to unhappiness. In Rousseau's view, man is a tragic animal: it is his ability to perfect himself that, in essence, is his biggest flaw.
