“Man was/is born free, and everywhere he is in chains. One who believes himself the master of others is nonetheless a greater slave than they.” Jean-Jacques Rousseau [1]

So, what is Rousseau’s solution to the paradox of politics? In brief, his solution has two-parts: he posits a radical and new form of direct democracy (the “general will”), and he also redefines the concept of liberty. True liberty for Rousseau is not the freedom to pursue one’s private interests. It is not the “natural liberty” of a Thomas Hobbes, a John Locke, or an Adam Smith; it is something else entirely: freedom consists of political participation and strict obedience — namely, obedience to a supreme god-like entity he calls the “general will” or volonté générale.

But this ingenious Rousseauian solution begs three key questions: (1) what is this quasi-mystical “general will”, (2) how is it measured or expressed, and last but not least, (3) why should one acquiesce to it, i.e. why obey? First off, according to Rousseau, the general will is a special kind of public opinion (cf. David Hume; see here, for example) or Spartan popular rule: it is the collective will of the people, but at the same time, Rousseau’s general will is distinct from traditional majority rule or what he calls the “will of all” (volonté de tous).

How so? How does one distinguish Rousseau’s so-called general will from conventional majority rule? For Rousseau, majority rule or the “will of all” is just the sum of our private wills or selfish factional interests. The general will, by contrast, is aimed at achieving the common good, i.e. at what is best for everyone:

“There is often a great difference between the will of all and the general will. The latter considers only the common interest; the former considers private interest, and is only a sum of private wills.” [2]

In other words, Rousseau’s god-like “general will” only emerges when the people prioritize the common good over their personal, self-serving interests. Now, what about my other two questions: how is the general will measured or put into operation, and why are we obliged to obey it? Stay tuned, for I shall address these all-important secondary questions in my next two posts.

[1] The Social Contract, reprinted in Cohen 2018, p. 271.

[2] Ibid., at p. 273.