Political Science 2237E Lecture 13: Rousseau & the General Will
22 Dec 2020
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Document Summary
Man is born free & everywhere he is in chains". Bad rulers & bad laws are the chains. Desire for power that hobbes attributes to people in society. Rousseau thinks the contract changes us, that we become different people. Terms of the contract/theory of sovereign power of the whole community. We receive a sovereign body where each individual person is an indivisible part of the whole. Each, in giving himself to all, gives himself to nobody. Individual will: acting totally in your own private interest. Will of all: when all private interests happen to coincide. Basis of our own self-interest but our wills end up matching up with one another. General will: regards only the collective interest. Not majority rule because majorities tend to repress the interests of the minorities. Can be majority rule if it"s a collective interest. What happens if people refuse to follow the general will. Everyone is an indivisible part of the whole.
