Rousseau's Advocacy of the General Will

 

The general will is considered to be the will that is held by an entire society in a bid to ensure that its common interests are protected. It is a central tenet in the political philosophy of Rousseau, and an essential concept when it comes to the idea of what a republican should be in the contemporary world. Rousseau seeks to ensure that there is a distinction between the general will and that of disparate groups, and argues that freedom and authority are not contradictory, and are instead complementary because they involve the protection of individuals within the state. Furthermore, he suggests that legitimate laws tend to be those that are developed based on the general will of the public; meaning that laws are created because the people will it rather than their rulers. Therefore, when it comes to obeying the law, it is essential that all citizens of the republic do so because they are essentially seeking to make sure that they advance a situation where they obey themselves as members of their respective political communities. Rousseau argues that the general will is an essential aspect of a republican political community because it ensures that individuals are better able to exercise their freedoms without the interference of government because the people are the essential basis of the said government.

The general will is not just an ideal, but is instead essentially the power that is held by citizen in their capacity the political community of the state. Rousseau’s take on the general will is one that considers it based on the political aspects rather than the universal ones that was previously the case. The general will is based on the need by individuals within the state to make sure that they are able to make decisions based on their sense of justice; essentially voting based on their conscience. It is under such circumstances that individuals are able to become conscious of their personal interests as part of the political community, which ensures that they are able to tap into their individual conscience and come up with ways through which they can serve the public good. The interests of individuals are therefore translated to those of the republic as a whole, which promotes a situation where as citizens serve the state, they are essentially serving themselves as well. Under such circumstances, Rousseau argues that the general will is right, although he is also critical of those individuals who put feelings at a lower level than reason. Therefore, the political will is one that seeks to express the will of the people while at the same time showing their feelings of affection or attachment to their own political communities.

In his conception of the general will, Rousseau seems to promote the idea that all individuals are capable of seeking the common good. Under such circumstances, they end up being morally bound to ensure that they achieve a unanimous decision that is good for their entire political community. Therefore, in the ideal republic, the members of the political community often seek to make sure that they develop laws that express the general will. Even in those situations where they might be wrong, it is implied that the development of laws still seeks to achieve justice, and under such circumstances, rather than following the interests of individuals or certain groups, it ends up following the general will of the people. When an individual goes against the laws that have been created by the general will, he or she is going against both the instituted government, and their higher interests as part of the political community. Thus, when an individual is forced to follow the law, it is a means of “forcing him to be free”. The general will is a means through which the freedom of individuals in society is guaranteed and maintained at all times for the good of all the individuals within it.

Despite the considerable debate that has been sparked by Rousseau’s advocacy of the general will, it is pertinent to note that his main concern is the preservation of autonomy and civil liberty that is enjoyed by individuals. Based on his definition of the general will, the government is created based on the general will and it does not have free reign over the people because they are eventually the ultimate authority within the republic. Thus, the government is only legitimate under circumstances where it is made subordinate to the will of the people, meaning that a government that does not follow the general will is not legitimate. The government has to be subordinated to the law because the latter is an expression of the general will of the people. A failure by government to abide by the law means that it has made itself a separate political body and is no longer a part of the political community that is based on the general will of the people.