The article seeks to demonstrate the existence of a social philosophy in Rousseau's Second discourse, which takes the human aspiration for recognition as its constitutive core. The investigation on the origin of inequality leads the Genevan to his questionings about men himself, discovering freedom and perfectibility as originary strengths (faculties) of his sociability. Through freedom man arrives at the awareness of his spirituality, that is, becomes capable of going beyond the causal mechanicism imposed by nature, constructing the linguistic, symbolic and cultural universe. Through perfectibility man acquires the ability to become better and better, and ready not only to fight for his immediate survival, but to aspire to be recognized by the others. In summary, freedom and perfectibility open to him the doors to sociability, and allow him to enter the cultural universe. However, concomitantly to the process of becoming a free being, capable of perfecting itself, man develops the ability to step outside himself, feeling the need for constant comparison with the others. That heralds, from the point of view of the human constitution, the passage from the love of oneself (amour de soi) to self-love (amour-propre): whilst the former is representative of the natural state and is based on piety, the latter characterizes the civilized man, and is marked by man's propensity to wish to occupy a higher position than the rest. If such propensity is not curtailed, it can lead to the destruction of sociability. Hence the need for its juridical and political regulation, anteceded by a process of moral and pedagogical formation. This then justifies the need for the permanent education of self-love.
Recognition; Education; Self-love; Natural education