When we talk about the history of science, we usually talk about individuals who contributed to scientific discoveries. Is this a good or bad way of thinking about science? What are some pros or cons?

you did not attach the discourse, but i assume it to be the discourse on the origin and basis of inequality among men (the original titile in french is: "discours sur l'origine et les fondements de l'inégalité parmi les hommes"), also know as "second discourse". in this discourse, jean-jacques rousseau emphasizes that private property is the basis of all inequalities.

therefore, what enabled the old regime to maintain as long as it did was private property.

an organism's phenotype is the  form of a trait  that it  displays. for  flowercolor, a pea  plant  can  display  a phenotype of purple or white flowers. an organism's  genotype  is the alleles of a gene it contains. based on his data, mendel concluded that a phenotype can be  determined  by more than one  genotype.