General Will
Quotation: “Immediately, instead of individuals entering into contractual relations, this act of association creates a conditional collective Whole… This Whole receives unity, its common self, its life and will as a result of such an act. As long as a certain number of united people look at themselves as a single whole, they have only one will in everything that concerns common self-preservation and general well-being.” (Rousseau 161).
In this quote, Rousseau elaborates in detail the concept of the General Will. Under it, the philosopher denotes the unity of the will of individuals, i.e., it does not belong to a certain person but represents the whole people. Rousseau specifically emphasizes the word “unity.” The general will has its own “I,” which is not simply reduced to the sum of the will of individuals but represents a new qualitative will.
General Will contribute to mankind’s political agency because it is the only instrument of influence on the state. In order to get the attention of the government, it is necessary to provide an opportunity for every citizen to participate in legislation. Therefore, the law is a public and formal declaration of the General Will. Rousseau believes the General Will would manifest itself in the process of governing in the process of voting. Its participants adopt laws that comply with reasonable natural law and are binding on all participants of such a meeting.
The method of revealing the true General Will that Rousseau offers is practically impossible in real life. Absolute unanimity of all individuals is hardly possible, as well as the complete agreement of interests, and for Rousseau, this is quite obvious. That is why Rousseau chooses to consider the ‘fallibility’ of the General Will. The only time Rousseau demands such unanimity is when concluding a social contract. For all other cases, only the fact of the general submission of votes is sufficient. For Rousseau, it is not essential that all citizens vote unanimously; a majority of votes is necessary for the adoption of the law.
Property
Quotation: ” I know that our philosophy, generous with strange maxims, claims, contrary to centuries of experience, that luxury makes the state shine. Nevertheless, forgetting about the necessity of laws against luxury, will it dare to deny the truth that good morals contribute to the strength of the state and that luxury is incompatible with good morals? If we admit that luxury is a sure sign of wealth, that it even in some sense contributes to its multiplication, then what conclusion can be drawn from this paradox, so worthy of our time?” (Rousseau 55).
The idea of the corrupting influence of luxury pervades all the works of Rousseau. He saw it as the ultimate cause of all those misfortunes that lie in wait for both the individual and the entire human race on its difficult path. Therefore, Rousseau concludes that an increase in public wealth is not an increase in the wealth possessed by an individual (private property).
From the philosopher’s point of view, the main cause of all social shortcomings is social inequality and the underlying private property. He shows the inconsistency of social progress, as a result of which there is not only the introduction to the benefits of civilization of a wide range of people who have recently lived a patriarchal life. Poverty and wealth are also growing at different poles, and the alienation of people from each other.
This was the influence of Rousseau as a culturologist: he was one of the first to notice the evils of the enlightenment project. Therefore, he issued a warning about the danger of mankind’s development along the path of scientific and technical rationality. The impact of Rousseau’s ideas on subsequent generations and the development of civil society is great. In the XIX-XX centuries, Rousseau’s conclusions influenced many concepts of culture. In ethnography and cultural anthropology, due to Rousseau’s discovery, humanity began to look differently at the Romans, who lost their wealth due to the desire for wealth and the predominance of private property.
Equality
Quotation: “The first person who had the idea, having fenced off a piece of land, to say, “This is mine,” and found people simple-minded enough to believe it, was the true founder of civil society. From how many crimes, wars, and murders, from how many disasters and horrors would the human race be saved by the one who, pulling out the stakes and filling up the moat, shouted to his neighbors: ” Do not listen to this deceiver, you are lost if you are able to forget that the fruits of the earth belong to everyone, and the earth belongs to no one!” (Rousseau 361).
The nature of Rousseau’s views was most clearly manifested in demand for property equality. Rousseau was aware that political equality of citizens could not be ensured as long as social inequality persisted, dividing people into oppressors and oppressed. Therefore, the philosopher categorically opposed the socialization of private property, supporting the theory of equality, in which it is necessary to abolish the concept of private property, giving everyone equal access to benefits.
Rousseau’s ideas also played an important role in the subsequent development of theoretical ideas about social justice, the state, and law. According to the philosopher, the correct distribution of political power should also be based on the principle of equality. Rousseau rejects the principle of the proper distribution of political power and proposes only to delineate the competence of legislative and executive bodies to prevent arbitrariness and lawlessness.
Rousseau leans towards an aristocratic form of government and believes that man ought to pursue the elected kind of government. He comments on its advantages over the natural and hereditary kind of government by the fact that, in this case, the wisest and most worthy governs the people, meaning not their own benefit but the benefit of the people. Two conditions are necessary for an elective aristocracy: moderation on the part of the rich and the ruling and contentment on the part of the poor.
Liberty
Quotation: ” Freedom… is in the heart of a free person, it means behavior in accordance with the law that we accept for ourselves. Man is born free, and yet everywhere he is in chains. Freedom cannot exist without equality”(Rousseau 329).
Rousseau considered the issue of human liberty to be one of the central issues in the problem of social relations; it plays an important role in Rousseau’s political philosophy. The concept of liberty in Jean Jacques Rousseau is contradictory since he divides liberty into two categories. The first is the liberty of the natural state, and the second is liberty in the state of a social contract. In this regard, natural liberty can be defined as the absence of all obstacles to the realization of the desired, except physical. Civil liberty can be defined as liberty that is limited by the General Will.
To justify a proper role of liberty in civil society, Rousseau uses the concept of coercion to liberty, where liberty finds a connection with the General Will. It is a mechanism for the inclusion of the individual in the life of society, establishing their connection with the general will. Having joined the General Will, an individual becomes free in the civil sense of the word. In this sense, coercion to freedom protects a citizen from making a mistake. They are free to act in such a way that their behavior corresponds to the General Will.
Work Cited
Rousseau Jean Jacques. The Social Contract, or Principles of Political Law: Also, a Project for a Perpetual Peace. Forgotten Books, 2018.