OEuvres completes de Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Ideology as a function in Rousseau's Social Contract

“…General will and particular will, however, are not introduced for the very first time in the Social Contract . The concepts have a pre‐history in the sense that they first appear in Rousseau's philosophy in his Discourse on Political Economy from 1755 (Rousseau, 1964, pp. 241–278), and the general will even predates Rousseau's political writings in the sense that he first finds it in Diderot's philosophy, only to change its meaning decisively as he adopts it (for a discussion of the difference between the meaning of the concept in Diderot and Rousseau, see Bernardi, 2002).…”

“…Rousseau is more in line with Spinoza than with Hobbes in this regard, in two decisive ways. First, he too emphasizes the role of freedom—in fact, he puts even more emphasis on this aspect, as he (unlike Spinoza) defines the human being as essentially characterized by liberty (Rousseau, 1964, p. 356). The fundamental interest of human beings is, therefore, to preserve their freedom.…”

“…This perception is not simply given once and for all, neither for the individual nor for the people as a whole. On the contrary, in book II, chapter 6, Rousseau states that the general will is always right, but he adds that the people's ability to make judgments in accordance with the general will is often lacking (Rousseau, 1964, p. 380). This discrepancy indicates that the relationship between general will and particular will is dynamic rather than static: The general will may be undermined by the particular will, causing the people to make wrong decisions.…”

“…This is what individual freedom can be in a societal setting where it by necessity has to mean something different from the complete independence of pre‐social natural human beings as depicted by Rousseau in the Second Discourse . He, therefore, explicitly and repeatedly points out that the general will is what is in the interest not just of society as a collective, but also of the individual citizen (Rousseau, 1964, p. 371). And he makes it clear that this is a fact based on “the nature of things” (Rousseau, 1964, p. 378); in other words, it is in the objective interest of individuals to act in accordance with the general will.…”

“…He, therefore, explicitly and repeatedly points out that the general will is what is in the interest not just of society as a collective, but also of the individual citizen (Rousseau, 1964, p. 371). And he makes it clear that this is a fact based on “the nature of things” (Rousseau, 1964, p. 378); in other words, it is in the objective interest of individuals to act in accordance with the general will. The person who acts in this way therefore, displays an adequate understanding of her true interests as a human being and as a citizen.…”