This review discusses Rousseau's concepts of social contract and general will in his work "The Social Contract" and contrasts those views with the constitutional principles of representation and individual rights found in the United States and other democratic republics.
See Full PDF See Full PDFIf the greatness of a philosophical work can be measured by the volume and vehemence of the public response, there is little question that Rousseau's Social Contract stands out as a masterpiece. Within a week of its publication in 1762 it was banished from France. Soon thereafter, Rousseau fled to Geneva, where he saw the book burned in public. At the same time, many of his contemporaries, such as Kant, considered Rousseau to be “the Newton of the moral world,” as he was the first philosopher to draw attention to the basic dignity of human nature. The Social Contract has never ceased to be read in the 250 years since it was written. Rousseau's “Social Contract”: An Introduction offers a thorough and systematic tour of this notoriously paradoxical and challenging text. David Lay Williams offers readers a chapter-by-chapter reading of the Social Contract, squarely confronting these interpretive obstacles, leaving no stones unturned. The conclusion connects Rousseau's text both to his important influences and those who took inspiration and sometimes exception to his arguments. The book also features a special extended appendix dedicated to outlining his famous conception of the general will, which has been the object of controversy since the Social Contract's publication.
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Perspectives in Social Contract Theory
The primary focus of this paper is the issue of the formation of the citizen in the Rousseau’s social contract theory. To begin with I examine the anthropological basis of Rousseau’s political ideas. These are based on the conception of the natural human being. In the state of nature, human beings are simple, free and solitary. Their spiritual faculties are not yet developed. With the concept of perfectibility, Rousseau states that human beings are not fixed to a single model of development, but that they can adapt to different forms. Following I provide an analysis of the intentions of Rousseau’s social contract, i.e. the construction of a free and equal society. According to Rousseau, the social contract gives rise to a political body whose general will must be expressed through laws directed towards the common good. Here the civil freedom of the individual finds its accomplishment. But the distance between one’s own will and the general will still remain an open issue, with the risk of invalidating the project of the social contract. Thirdly, I discuss the civil education of the citizen, which is an instrument for overcoming the worry of the distance between one’s own will and the general will. The purpose of this kind of education is to create a particular will that adjusts itself to the general one without dissonance. In conclusion I look at the set of problems posited by this kind of education with regard to the extent of freedom in the Rousseau’s social contract theory. ISBN 9781565183315 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018001948
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Paper delivered to the School of Historical Studies, Institute for Advanced Studies, Princeton NJ 2008 (Copyright by the Author, Do not cite/quote without written permission of the author)
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PROBLEM TO BE TACKLED Rousseau was disturbed at the level of inequality in wealth of the members of the society and so he sought a way to tackle this problem. He felt that if the common good of all were sought, the problem of inequality would be dealt with. Thus, he proposed the theory of the General Will as a mechanism with which this problem would be adequately dealt with. The General Will also stands as the basis for a legitimate government. A SHORT STATEMENT ON THE TOPIC Humans are said to have undergone a transition from the State of Nature to the Civil Society a view held by Rousseau and other Social Contract philosophers. This transition from the State of Nature to the Civil Society was necessitated by the need to protect life and property which should be achieved in a way that respects the principles of liberty and equality. The Social Contract, then, surfaces as an answer to the need of creating an arrangement that would securely “defend and protect, with the whole common force, the person and goods of each associate and by which every person, while uniting himself with all, shall obey only himself and remain free as before". And in order to achieve this goal of the Social Contract, Rousseau proposed a mechanism which he calls the General Will. The General Will, for Rousseau, is the integrated will of the society towards the good and the just. He further argued that once one becomes part of the General Will, one automatically becomes part of an indivisible civic identity adding that through submission to the General Will, single individuals give up their natural liberty and gain civil liberty which makes them equal citizens with equal and undifferentiating rights. At this point we could say that Rousseau’s theory of the General Will is foremost a theory of legitimate government. Thus, his notion of the General Will is his solution to the problem of legitimacy. He argues that a legitimate social order should necessarily bind upon consent and agreement and that it might only be possible through a Social Contract through which all the members of the society become equal partners. This social pact becomes possible, says Rousseau, by the “total alienation of each associate with all his rights to the whole community”. This community which is also referred to as the Sovereign is constituted not by an individual or a group of individuals but by all the members of the association. In this work, we shall focus on Rousseau’s notion of the General Will and the problem of Legitimacy, with emphasis on Rousseau’s solution to the problem of Legitimacy which is his theory of the General Will.
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Constitution and the Classics: Patterns of Constitutional Thought from Fortescue to Bentham
In this chapter I look at the constitutional features of Rousseau’s "association of the general will" and address the question whether and how is the tension between popular sovereignty and limited government resolved there. First I provide an account of Rousseau’s arguments for popular sovereignty and outline the main features of his "Association of the General will". Then, I look at the issue of constitutional beginning: (1) how is the sovereign constituted: how a mere aggregate of individuals becomes an association of the general will with the above properties; and (2) how is its general will shaped. The godly Legislator as Rousseau’s controversial solution to the problem of constitutional beginning is the focus of the second part. The last part is organized around the more strictly “constitutional” features of Rousseau’s project. What role does Rousseau envisage for constitutional safeguards of individual freedom within the association of the general will? I discuss in detail here his doctrine of limited government as involving supremacy and separation of the sovereign from its government. Rousseau’s account of the rule of law, as well as the related controversy over the purported limits on the general will are next addressed. Rousseau’s understanding of individual rights protection and his likely response to the charge of tyrannical majorities within the association of the General will are the foci of the concluding section of this text.
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