Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a French philosopher who lived in the 18th century. One of his most famous ideas is the concept of the "general will." Rousseau believed that the general will is the will of the people as a whole, rather than the will of any individual or group of individuals.
According to Rousseau, the general will is guided by the common good and is always right. It is the driving force behind a just society and is the source of sovereignty and legitimacy for the state. The general will is not the same as the will of all individuals, as it takes into account the common good rather than the interests of any single individual.
Rousseau argued that the general will is discovered through the process of democratic deliberation. In a democratic society, the people come together to discuss and debate issues that affect the community. Through this process, they arrive at a consensus on what is best for the common good. This consensus becomes the general will, which guides the actions of the state and the laws that govern society.
Rousseau believed that the general will is the foundation of a just society, as it ensures that the needs and interests of the community are prioritized over those of any individual or group. However, he also recognized that there can be conflicts between the general will and the wills of individual citizens. In these cases, Rousseau argued that the general will must always prevail, as it represents the common good.
Overall, Rousseau's concept of the general will is a central idea in his political philosophy and is closely tied to his beliefs about democracy and the role of the state in promoting the common good. It remains a influential and widely debated idea in political theory to this day.
ROUSSEAU’S GENERAL WILL
Jean Jacques Rousseau also developed his own version of the social contract. Since man is naturally free and equal and moral in the state of nature, and the social compact is about upholding this freedom and equality, the general will is what is codified through the social compact in tying people together. In this every person, while uniting himself with all, shall obey only himself and remain as free as before. But take away from these same wills the pluses and minuses that cancel each other out, and the remaining sum of the differences is the general will Rousseau, Social Contract, Vol. He believes General Will is necessarily directed at the good since its objective is betterment of all. This would entail that the political class that has been determined as representatives of the general will exercise such sovereignty.
General will
All worldviews are the same in that God is rejected. What are the features of sovereignty? In a society where a man cannot be free of all dependence, can substitute one form of dependence for another. Instead, what Rousseau says the bond of society is is the general will itself. Ask anyone else and you will get an indefensible answer such as: everyone knows it is wrong; society agrees it is wrong; or it violates natural law, however that may be defined; etc. It may be registered by making difference of individual wills cancelling each other. Also, there is another contradiction in reality, where the state or other institutions should act according to the general will, but they do not.
The Ironic Totalitarianism of Rousseau’s “General Will”
Nevertheless, a people could collectively desire an egalitarian mode of distributing food, and that would be considered a part of the general will. This is the basic principle that he tried to put forward in his writing. Instead, man is just desire. In such states, majority represents the community. A representative legislative body could not determine the general will, because the social contract depended on the unanimous consent of all the governed. Perhaps that's beyond the scope of your question. Rousseau seems to divide between the general will and the will of all.
Rousseaus Social Contract: A Critical Response
A political and moral philosopher during the Enlightenment, Jean-Jacques Rousseau developed provocative ideas about human nature, education, and the desired relationship between individuals and the ideal society. According to Rousseau, the governed enter into a social contract and agree to live by common laws for the sake of their own freedom. It is the bedrock which unites the first two books of the Social Contract, conflating the social contract to be the general will itself. Both are for the good of the community, and there will always be contradictions between community members. One of his most famous ideas is that of the general will. This is a matter of great importance for society, so it is very important that society be as unanimous as possible.
