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1. Political Internet: State and Politics in the Age of Social
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2. Intimate Speakers: Why Introverted and Socially Ostracized Citizens
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Biju
P R
Author,
Teacher, Blogger
Assistant
Professor of Political Science
Government
Brennen College
Thalassery
Kerala,
India
1. Political Internet: State and Politics in the Age of Social Media,
(Routledge 2017), Amazon https://www.amazon.in/
2. Intimate Speakers: Why Introverted and Socially Ostracized Citizens Use Social Media, (Fingerprint! 2017)
Amazon: http://www.amazon.in/dp/
In
1837, Victor Hugo wrote to his friend, Juliette Drouet, “A letter is a kiss
sent by mail.” Hugo’s brief phrase captures the essence of the rich tradition
of epistolary novels in France.
Hugo’s
definition underscores the expressive powers of letters to convey through
language a sense of intimacy and immediacy of communication that rivals, and
sometimes even exceeds, direct contact.
For
Hugo, as for the epistolary novelists, passionate love is the privileged
subject of letters.
Rousseau
wrote La Nouvelle Héloïse
at Monmorency. This novel was in part inspired by his love for Sophie
d’Houdetot, who was in turn in love with the poet St.-Lambert. When he was 20,
Madame de Warens took him to be her lover. He considered as well for her the
love of his life.
1.
Rousseau’s book Confessions effectively invented modern
autobiography.
2.
Before
Rousseau, not many public figures were prepared to spill the beans about the
intimate details of their private lives – their regrets, their desires, their
deepest and darkest secrets – but Rousseau bared all, or very nearly all, in
his Confessions.
3.
Rousseau is also famous for his Social Contract, and its famous opening –
but misunderstood – lines. The Social Contract (1762) begins
with the well-known words, ‘Man is born free, but everywhere he is in chains.’
But contrary to popular understanding, Rousseau is not arguing that the chains
are necessarily bad.
Indeed, in a paradox that Rousseau never fully explained, man’s chains
actually guarantee his
freedom. This is because Rousseau saw the metaphorical ‘chains’ which bind us
all as part of the general will.
4.
In 1750, Rousseau came to public attention for
an essay arguing that the arts and sciences didn’t make people more morally
upright.
Ironically – given that he had written entries for
Diderot’s Encyclopédie on music and had even written an opera, Le Devin du village (1745) –
Rousseau argued, in the first Discourse
of 1750, for the banning of music and theatre, and thought that the arts
damaged people’s morality! Rousseau mostly had the contemporary theatre in mind
here, where luxury had replaced the primal purity that Rousseau held so dear.
5.
Indeed, this primal purity led to Rousseau’s
concept of the ‘noble savage’ – and made him a proto-Romantic figure. Rousseau’s
‘noble savage’ – an idea central to his Social
Contract – is purer than modern man because he is uncorrupted
by modern civilisation and by the notion of property. This view not only looks
forward to the Romantics’ dream of childhood as a purer time of life because it
is untainted by the more materialist realities of existence, but also helps to
‘square the circle’ and explain Rousseau’s argument in the first Discourse that the arts and
sciences were corrupting influences, because they took man further away from
this purer state.
Introduction
Jean-Jacques
Rousseau was a Swiss born French philosopher and writer who lead a life rich in
contradiction. He lived in an unhealthy garret, but taught hygiene. He wrote
about nature, but lived in crowded Paris. He promoted virtues that he obviously
lacked. He abandoned his children to an orphanage and became a child rearing
theorist.
“Man
was born free, and everywhere he is in chains”. This conspicuous paradox
between liberty and human oppression is reflected in Rousseau’s entire
politico-moral philosophy and so it is no surprise that he has been much
criticized for seeming ambiguities within his works. There is apparent
contradiction that Rousseau strongly criticizes the social contract tradition
and at the same time defends a social contract theory as the only solution to
save mankind from corruption and degeneration.
When he came to Paris he became increasingly aware that ordering society was unjust. The rules were made by the rich to suit their own interests not those of the common people.
Where
previous philosophers had spoken of elites, Rousseau became the champion of the
common person. His perfect world was one in which the will of the people was
most important.
Rousseau
was untypical among the Enlightenment philosophers he had arguments with
Voltaire, who called him a ‘Judas’; Diderot called him an ‘anti-philosophy
He
believed (i) the passions were more important than reason, whilst of course
‘reason’ was the central concern of most of the philosophes.
Life
Jean-Jacques
Rousseau (1712-1778) was born in the independent Calvinist city-state of Geneva
in 1712, the son of Isaac Rousseau, a watchmaker, and Suzanne Bernard.
Rousseau's mother died nine days after his birth, with the consequence that
Rousseau was raised and educated by his father until the age of ten.
Works
In
1762, Rousseau published The Social
Contract
and another major work, Emile,
or On Education (1762).
Confessions (1789). Discourse on Inequality (1755). Both works criticized
religion, and were consequently banned in France and his native Geneva. As a
result, Rousseau was forced to flee his homeland and live under the protection
of others for the rest of his life. The Social Contract influenced
governments throughout Europe and helped to promote political reform and
revolution. Although Rousseau, for the most part, avoids discussion of
contemporary political affairs, his criticism of luxury and his emphasis on
popular sovereignty certainly contributed to the ideals of the French
Revolution. In addition, many political leaders believed that Rousseau's
political theories provided a solid foundation for any state. Rousseau was
invited to draft constitutions for both Corsica and Poland, although his
recommendations were never implemented because of foreign invasions. The Social Contract is, in many
ways, a follow-up to Discourse
on the Origin and Basis of Inequality among Men. In the earlier
work, Rousseau attacks private property for causing inequality and
exploitation. These vices are responsible for the "chains" that
Rousseau refers to in the first sentence of On the
Social Contract. Accepting that some loss of liberty is inevitable,
Rousseau seeks to establish a legitimate, political authority. The Social Contract thus examines
what constitutes such an authority.
Human Nature
Rousseau
believed that man is naturally good and that vice and error are alien to him.
This creates a conflict between “nature” and “artifice” in attitudes to
society, education and religion. According to Rousseau, nature is man’s state
before being influenced by outside forces. At the same time, he asserts: “If
man is left… to his own notions and conduct, he would certainly turn out the
most preposterous of human beings. The influence of prejudice, authority… would
stifle nature in him and substitute nothing.”
In
other words, human beings need outside intervention to develop their natural
propensity for good. “We are born weak, we have need of help, we are born
destitute… we have need of assistance; we are born stupid, we have need of
understanding.”
Humans Deface and Confound
Man
needs to work with nature, not against it. Rousseau says, in his treatise, that
man is discontented with anything in its natural state and claims that
everything degenerates in his hand… “…he mutilates his dogs, his horses and
his slaves; he defaces, he confounds.”
The
correct balance of these three categories in human nature, enables man to
develop naturally.
Rousseau claims that outside influences, for example, society and custom, are
responsible for deviations from natural, healthy development in humans and this
creates a dilemma. Education should respect individuality rather than bow to
social conventions.
Citizen
or Man?
“Instead
of educating a man for himself, he must be educated for others… we must
chuse (sic) either to form the man or the citizen; for to do both at
once is impossible.”
Here Rousseau reinforces the value of reason, abhorring distortion and
prejudice, asserting how difficult it is for man to be true to his inner nature
and also accommodate the demands of society, “…held in suspense… without
being able to render ourselves consistent, and without ever being good for
anything to ourselves or others.”
Unnatural
Nature and the Woman of Sparta
Rousseau
says that feeling is a component of faith, sometimes presenting “nature” in a
way that is positively unnatural, yet calling it “noble”. The woman of Sparta,
having lost her five sons in a battle, cries, “…who asked you of my sons? –
But we have gained the victory.”
Rousseau
attempts to present an individual as a whole, therefore, as both true citizen
and heroic mother, stretching credibility to its limits. This is an unlikely
account of a natural, maternal reaction. She has repressed her natural
behaviour – and this is a problem for Rousseau’s attempt to reconcile citizen
and man. A child must first be a man, before choosing a profession:
“Nature has destined us to the offices of human life, antecedent to the
destination of our parents.”
Rousseau’s
preoccupation with reason and enlightenment leads him to similar conclusions to
those of the French philosophes. He argues for what he sees as rational
liberation, making objections to the ways in which babies are unnaturally
swaddled so that they cannot move, or wet-nursed instead of nursed by their
natural mothers.
However,
he is not averse to encouraging stoical endurance and abhorring indulgence: “…when
she makes an idol of the child… prevents every approach of pain or distress…
This is the rule of nature.”
Later,
he becomes even more extreme in his claims: “Man is born to suffer in every
stage of his existence… Happy are we, who in our infancy, know only physical
evils… We lament the state of infants, whereas it is our own that is most to be
lamented.”
This
seems to contradict earlier assertions about not swaddling children, and not
keeping them from their mother’s breast, but Rousseau’s point is that the
swaddling and wet-nursing are man-made evils, due to the caprices of women. “…such
is the man made by our own caprices; that of nature is differently
constituted.”
Evils
that Spring from Weakness
Rousseau
believes the education of man commences at birth and that experience is the forerunner
of the precept. The child must be guided in order to facilitate its natural,
good tendencies: “Prepare early for his enjoyment of liberty and the
exercise of his natural abilities… unrestrained by artificial habits.”
Ideally,
the child is left free to develop, but by example. When children begin to
observe objects, proper choices should be made. Therefore, a good
influence is exerted that does not interfere with the natural propensity of the
child to strive for good. Sometimes, the influence is exerted passively, for
example, avoiding allowing weakness in a child by not giving in to them.
Design
versus Disorder
Rousseau’s
ideas are compatible with religion and the argument from design. He denies that
matter organises itself by chance, and that disorder is the work of man
The
word “powerful” inspires good, since evil springs from weakness. “Many
evils, such as the “apprehensions” and “miseries” engendered by medicine, are
manmade and constitute an “outrage” to the laws of nature. Natural evils, like
physical pain, have a useful function: pain alerts us to the need for a
remedy.” So – nature may be harsh but it is ultimately beneficial.”
Rousseau
says that manmade evil is separate from divine providence. “Enquire no
longer, man is the author of evil; behold him in yourself. There exists no
other evil in nature than what you either do or suffer… in the system of nature
I see an established order which is never disturbed.”
There
is a free choice to be made here, according to Rousseau; man may do good or
evil.
Distrust
of Revealed Religion
Natural
religion, Rousseau, feels, has been tampered with and worship made too
ceremonial. “Religion should be studied in the lives of men and in the book
of nature.” He disapproved of, and found suspect, revealed religion.
Rousseau’s
concept of the word “nature” is that man is naturally good if exposed only to
good influence and his goodness is adversely affected only by external forces.
There are contradictions in Rousseau’s attempts to reconcile nature with
society. While many of his arguments are sound, where he is guided by
compassion, this compassion actually fails him because strong traditions
influence him.
“Man
by nature is formed to suffer with patience.” This is the traditional,
stoical fortitude of Rousseau’s era.
There
are other instances where he appears cold-hearted, for example, in analysing
his ideal student: “…he must have no disabilities” suggesting an elitism
which is lacking in compassion in a piece of writing where compassion is held
in high regard.
A
further example is the argument that men and women are unequal in many
respects.
Rousseau’s
Ideas: Instrumental to Kant and Marx
Rousseau’s
ideas were taken up by the leaders of the French Revolution and were
instrumental in influencing both Immanuel Kant and Karl
Marx. His greatest work was The Social Contract about freeing man from his chains
through the creation of an ideal society.
State of Nature
A
social contract implies an agreement by the people on the rules and laws by
which they are governed. The state of nature is the starting point for most
social contract theories. It is an abstract idea considering what human life
would look like without a government or a form of organized society (Lloyd,
Sreedhar, 2009). For Rousseau, the purpose of studying the state of nature is
three-fold: firstly, it is supposed to deliver an account of the original
primitive condition of mankind, secondly, it helps identify the main
characteristics of human nature in man’s original state, and thirdly, it helps
describe and evaluate the ‘new state of nature’ which, in other words, is
present-day society (MacAdam, 1972: 308). Rather than emphasizing the
historical aspect of the state of nature, Rousseau uses this concept as
mind-play picturing an ideal (Cole, 2007: 11).
According
to Rousseau, in the state of nature “man is naturally peaceful and timid; at the
least danger, his first reaction is to flee; he only fights through the force
of habit and experience” (2002: 417). It seems that primitive men “having no
moral relations or determinate obligations … could not be either good or bad,
virtuous or vicious” (Rousseau, 20071: 113). Man is ‘pre-moral’ and
innocent (Brown, Nardin, Rengger, 2002: 384). He is only concerned with his own
well-being and happiness, satisfying his personal needs and disregarding
“everything he did not think himself immediately to notice” (ibid: 117); he is
solitary and independent (Grimsley, 1973: 116). This feeling of self-love
termed ‘amour de soi’ can only accidentally be good or bad (Green, 1950:16).
Man has not yet discovered reason, knowing no rights and acting upon his instincts
(ibid: 15). He does not know the feeling of love and so beauty has no
importance to him; nor does wit or cunning (Rousseau, 2007: 117). Therefore, he
hardly knows what inequality is except for physical inequality (ibid.). Locke
agrees with Rousseau that man is “born equal and free” but believes natural man
to already have certain rights, like freedom, as well as some reason to make
moral decisions (Grimsley, 1973: 116). “… that being all equal and independent,
no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty or possessions”
(Locke, 1994: 117). While Locke is more positive than Rousseau, Hobbes’ view is
filled with pessimism, describing life in the state of nature as “solitary,
poor, nasty, brutish and short” and as a war of “every man against every man”
(Hobbes, 1968: I. Ch. 13). Though Rousseau accepts that man is irrational
(Grimsley, 1973:116), he argues that he is ignorant of the passions, “honour,
interest, prejudices and vengeance” (Rousseau, 202: 417); natural law is thus
rendered irrelevant (Noone, 1970: 697).
The
individual’s first encounter with other men represents a critical juncture in
Rousseau’s writings. Man finds out that in certain cases which are of mutual
interest, he can cooperate with others and rely on them (Rousseau, 20071:
119). Loose associations are formed, but the absolute turning point is when man
begins to live in huts with his family; he starts living in a small society
(ibid: 119-120).
Everything
now begins to change its aspect. Men, who have up to now been roving in the
woods, by taking to a more settled manner of life, come gradually together,
form separate bodies, and at length in every country arises a distinct nation…
(ibid: 120)
By
living with his wife and family, man discovers love and thus develops the ideas
of beauty and merit, giving rise to competition, as well as vanity, contempt,
shame and envy (ibid.). “With love arose jealousy; discord triumphed, and human
blood was sacrificed to the gentlest of all passions.” (ibid.) Man enters an
artificial society, thus hoping to be able to produce more through cooperation
(Knutsen, 1994: 248). Only from then onwards does he have the ability to act
morally and rationally, choosing his own opinions and no longer merely
following his instincts, exercising will, reason and conscience (Grimsley,
1973: 116). Through reason a wise man’s ‘amour de soi’ can lead him to humanity
and virtue (Voisine, 1996: 32-33). However, constant comparison to others and
seeing oneself as ‘above’ others can lead to pride or ‘amour-propre’; man is corrupted
by his environment (ibid.). Unlike Hobbes’ and Locke’s atomistic view of
mankind, meaning that man is mainly formed before entering society, Rousseau
thus depicts man’s psychological transformation in society, emphasizing the
importance of his social environment (Chapman, 1968: 98). “I cannot repeat too
often, that the error of Hobbes and other philosophers is to confuse natural
man with the man before their eyes…” (Rousseau, 2002: 424).
Once
man enters society, he enters dependence. The creation of private property and
the division of labour generate differences in wealth, power and status
(Knutsen, 1994: 249).
The
first man who, having bethought himself of saying ‘This is mine,’ and found
people simple enough to believe him, was the real founder of civil society.
From how many crimes, wars and murders, from how many horrors and misfortunes
might not anyone have saved mankind … (Rousseau, 20071: 118)
Thus,
Rousseau reasons, inequality is created through the corrupt interdependence
that constitutes society. Though man originally thought that society would
increase his freedom, he has lost it. “All ran headlong to their chains, in
hopes of securing their liberty.” (ibid: 124) By giving up his liberty,
Rousseau argues, man does not only degrade his life, he “annuls” it (ibid:
127). “Through some fatal accident, which for the public good, should never
have happened” (Rousseau, 20071: 121), man has moved from the
original state of nature to a ‘new state of nature’ characterized by oppression
(MacAdam, 1972: 308).
Unlike
Hobbes and Locke, Rousseau thus doesn’t see a civil society as a necessary
advancement from the state of nature. He criticizes the form of society and
social contract tradition of his day, which he regards as wretched, as well as
the theories of previous important and influential social contract thinkers.
Above all, he considers Hobbes’ social contract theory endorsing an absolute
sovereign Leviathan a
“horrible system” (ibid), as he despises despotism. He also frequently
criticizes Grotius for supporting the notion of slavery (20072:
29f.). Society has degenerated man, making him both physically and morally weak
and dependent on others, and adding to all this pessimism, Rousseau sees no way
back to the state of nature; primitive independence is lost (Levin, 1970: 502).
The
new-born state of society thus gave rise to a horrible state of war; men thus
harassed and depraved were no longer capable of retracing their steps or
renouncing the fatal acquisitions they had made … brought themselves to the
brink of ruin. (Rousseau, 20071: 123)
He
argues that the rich have become dependent on the poor, as they no longer know
how to provide for themselves, while peasants are used to manual labour and
could be to some extent self-reliant; a point that differentiates his
philosophy from that of Marx (Levin, 1970: 497). Rousseau considers this
dependence as the greatest deprivation of freedom (Rousseau, 20072:
28) and thus writes in Émile,
that man must be reeducated. He still believes that in essence man is
perfectable; education is supposed to create a new man who can fend and think
for himself and care “nothing for the weight of popular opinion” (Rousseau,
2004: 248), as well as live in society (Charvet, 1980: 69).
In
addition to new forms of education, Rousseau sets out to create a better
political system; and acknowledges the possibility of moving on from corruption
(Charvet, 1980: 69). “It is my purpose to inquire whether it is possible for
there to be any legitimate and certain rule of administration in civil society,
taking men as they are and laws as they may be” (Rousseau, 20072: ’28).
Confusingly, though he has so far criticized the social contract tradition, he
names his solution le
contrat social or the Social
Contract. It is supposed to make men equal and free; the protection
of liberty is most important (Grimsley, 1973: 93).
The
problem is to find a form of association which will defend and protect with the
whole common force the person and goods of each associate, and in which each,
while uniting himself with all, may still obey himself alone, and remain as
free as before (Rousseau, 20072: 32)
In
order to become free, every individual must give up all his rights to the
entire community, creating the same conditions for all and thus equality (ibid:
32-33). “Finally, each man, in giving himself to all, gives himself to nobody”
(ibid.). After all, it would not be Rousseau if there weren’t a little paradox.
Men are thus all subject to what Rousseau names volonté générale or the general will. It is not the
will of all the individuals or of the majority, as even the majority may be
mistaken, but it is always to public advantage and for the ‘greater good’
(ibid: 33f.). “Whoever refuses to obey the general will shall be compelled to
do so by the whole body. This means nothing less than he will be forced to be
free” (Rousseau, 20072: 34). This again reminds us that man is
“everywhere in chains”. Man’s freedom is thus relative, he cannot endanger
anyone else’s freedom and he must follow the law and above all, the general
will, so to maintain an ordered society (Grimsley, 1973: 93). Man is only free
by obedience; he must become dependent (on law) in order to be independent
(MacAdam, 1972: 309).
In
the Social Contract,
Rousseau repudiates two traditional features of society (ibid: 92): Firstly,
political authority is not to be based on force, as the use of force can never
be right. “Since no man has natural authority over his fellow men, and since
might in no sense makes right, conventions remain as the basis of all
legitimate authority among men” (Rousseau, 2002: 8). Secondly, man has no
innate sociability, which means society is not a natural occurrence; but if he
decides to, he has the potential to enter into a relationship with his fellows
(Grimsley, 1973: 92). Society must thus be formed upon rational choice;
oppression is never right (ibid.). This thus rejects the view of Grotius that
permanent enslavement of a captive people is acceptable, and certainly that of Hobbes,
who advocates absolutism.
Apart
from there being an apparent paradox in Rousseau advocating a social contract
in the first place, there are several problems that arise when reading the Social Contract (Noone, 1970:
707f.; Bertram, 2010). First of all, he does not specify what the general will
is by giving examples (Noone, 1970: 708). How can the general will be found,
how do individuals know what it is and know that it is their best (and only)
option to follow it, if it is not, as Rousseau writes himself, “formally set
forth” (Rousseau, 20072: 32)? At the same time, the rule of the
general will almost seems to be an absolute regime in itself, something that
Rousseau so thoroughly rejected in Hobbes, as it must always be obeyed.
Furthermore, if any of the relations between the Social Contract, obligation, the state of nature and
the general will were changed, this would distort Rousseau’s entire political
and moral philosophy (Noone, 1970: 708). “The clauses of this contract are so
determined by the nature of the act that the slightest modification would make
them vain and ineffective” (Rousseau, 20072: 32). In addition,
though Rousseau defines political obligation as following laws and the general
will, there is no specification of individual obligations (Noone, 1970: 707).
Also, while he defines sovereignty as the “exercise of the general will”
(Rousseau, 20072: 36), he does not mention specific laws that should
be sovereign (ibid.). Other problems are to be found in Émile; though Rousseau despises the
rich, Émile would hardly have a private tutor were he not wealthy ((Levin,
1970: 511). Moreover, though Émile is supposed to learn to think for himself,
he is under the ‘guidance will’ of his teacher, which in some way is similar to
‘thought control’ (ibid: 512). Again, this leads to our favourite paradox,
Émile, while free, is still “in chains”.
Social Contract
In
conclusion, Rousseau is in fact both a critic and an advocate of social
contract theory. Throughout his work, he considers society to have corrupted
mankind and most of all, he rejects Hobbes’ idea of an absolute Leviathan. At the same time, in
order to create his own rather different Social
Contract which he sees as the only solution to escape corruption, he uses the ideas of the social
contract tradition that the people should give up sovereignty to an authority
to preserve their freedom; sovereignty lies within the whole, in this case with
the general will.
Simply by naming his work le
contrat social, Rousseau implies that he wants to be understood in
the context of contractarianism. He thus makes a transition from ‘old’ to ‘new’
with his conception of society and politics (Cole, 2007: 10). The system Rousseau sees as the
solution to overcome corrupt society is at the same time vague and unalterable.
This is problematic, as Rousseau fails to give us practical examples of how to
apply his Social Contract and
it is therefore unclear how it could function in practice. Furthermore, it
seems strange that it cannot be changed, considering that he seems to
acknowledge that mankind can evolve. On the other hand, it is important not to
take him too literally, after all, his method is to create concrete and
universal principles from generalizations of the human condition, based less on
facts than on political ‘right’.
Social contract - The agreement with which
a person enters into civil society. The contract essentially binds people into
a community that exists for mutual preservation. In entering into civil society,
people sacrifice the physical freedom of being able to do whatever they please,
but they gain the civil freedom of being able to think and act rationally and
morally. Rousseau believes that only by entering into the social contract can
we become fully human.
Freedom or
Liberty -
The problem of freedom is the motivating force behind The Social Contract.
In the state of nature people have physical freedom, meaning that their actions
are not restrained in any way, but they are little more than animals, slaves to
their own instincts and impulses. In most contemporary societies, however,
people lack even this physical freedom. They are bound to obey an absolutist
king or government that is not accountable to them in any way. By proposing a
social contract, Rousseau hopes to secure the civil freedom that should
accompany life in society. This freedom is tempered by an agreement not to harm
one's fellow citizens, but this restraint leads people to be moral and
rational. In this sense, civil freedom is superior to physical freedom, since
people are not even slaves to their impulses.
Sovereign -
Strictly defined, a sovereign is the voice of the law and the absolute
authority within a given state. In Rousseau's time, the sovereign was usually
an absolute monarch. In The Social Contract, however, this word is given
a new meaning. In a healthy republic, Rousseau defines the sovereign as all the
citizens acting collectively. Together, they voice the general will and the
laws of the state. The sovereign cannot be represented, divided, or broken up
in any way: only all the people speaking collectively can be sovereign.
Government - This is
the executive power of a state, which takes care of particular matters and
day-to-day business. There are as many different kinds of government as there
are states, though they can be roughly divided into democracy (the rule of the
many), aristocracy (the rule of the few), and monarchy (the rule of a single
individual). The government represents the people: it is not sovereign, and it
cannot speak for the general will. It has its own corporate will that is often
at odds with the general will. For this reason, there is often friction between
the government and the sovereign that can bring about the downfall of the
state.
Law - An abstract
expression of the general will that is universally applicable. Laws deal only
with the people collectively, and cannot deal with any particulars. They are
essentially a record of what the people collectively desire. Laws exist to
ensure that people remain loyal to the sovereign in all cases.
General will - The
will of the sovereign that aims at the common good. Each individual has his own
particular will that expresses what is best for him. The general will expresses
what is best for the state as a whole.
Will of all - The sum
total of each individual's particular will. In a healthy state, the will of all
is the same thing as the general will, since each citizen wills the common
good. However, in a state where people value their personal interests over the
interests of the state, the will of all may differ significantly from the
general will.
State of
Nature -
When Rousseau talks about the state of nature, he is talking about what human
life would be like without the shaping influence of society. So much of what we
are is what society makes us, so he suggests that before society existed, we
must have been very different. In a different book, Discourse on Inequality,
he speaks very highly of this prehistoric state, but in The Social Contract
he is more ambivalent. In the state of nature, we are free to do whatever we
want, but our desires and impulses are not tempered by reason. We have physical
freedom but we lack morality and rationality. Still, Rousseau believed that
this state of nature was better than the slavery of his contemporary society.
Civil society
-
Civil society is the opposite of the state of nature: it is what we enter into
when we agree to live in a community. With civil society comes civil freedom
and the social contract. By agreeing to live together and look out for one
another, we learn to be rational and moral, and to temper our brute instincts.
Common good - The
common good is what is in the best interests of society as a whole. This is
what the social contract is meant to achieve, and it is what the general will
aims at.
General
will
The general will,
(French, volonté generale) first enunciated by Jean-Jacques Rousseau (June 28, 1712 – July 2, 1778), is a concept in political philosophy
referring to the desire or interest of a people as a whole. It is most often
associated with socialist traditions in politics.General will is what a fully-informed body politic (community of citizens) would unanimously do if, by using good reasoning and judgment unclouded by bias and emotion, it would make general laws and decisions intended to ensure the common good. General will presupposes the existence of a generally-accepted political and social ideal. Rousseau characterized general will as being always abstract, establishing rules and setting up systems of government, but never being specific about which individuals were subject to the rules or about who the particular members of social classes or the particular rulers in the government were. The general will (volonté générale) was not merely the sum of all the individual wills of those who participate in the social contract, nor was it expressed simply in social customs and mores; rather, it was an over-arching concept that infallibly sought the good of society as a whole. Those who surrendered their individual rights to the general will were exercising their personal freedom, because they themselves were authors of the law.
Though abstract and difficult to articulate in practice, the concept of general will had a powerful influence on modern political thinking and on the structure of modern representative governments and civic institutions.
he idea of "general will" was first formulated by Nicolas Malebranche, who argued that all laws in the phenomenal world are manifestations of God's "general will." Denis Diderot re-interpreted the idea of "general will" as the will of humanity, which desires the goodness of humanity and determines the obligations of human beings. The general will underlies all positive laws and social regulations and is the basis of universal obligations that are applicable to all. Jean-Jacques Rousseau criticized Diderot's concept as "empty" for the reason that we develop our concept of humanity based upon particular society we live in. Rousseau's formulation became the prevailing notion of "general will."
The concept of the general will was first introduced in two of Rousseau’s essays, the Discourse on the Origin of Inequality (1754), and the Discourse on Political Economy (1755), and was further developed in Social Contract (1762). In Discourse on the Origin of Inequality, Rousseau asserted that in a savage and uncorrupted state, human beings were guided by feelings of pity and love for each other and had no need of concepts such as morality or duty. In this primitive state there was no inequality among men. When, through mutual cooperation, men began to engage in agriculture and industry and to possess private property, inequalities arose and along with them, the need to establish a stable government by means of a contract that unites many wills into one. Rousseau distinguished two types of freedom—personal freedom that arose from basic human instincts and natural selfishness prompting the individual to act for his own benefit, and social freedom which was achieved when the individual made his individual desires subservient to the general will, in order to receive the benefits that it guaranteed to all individuals.
Rousseau tied the concept of general will directly to sovereignty. True sovereignty did not imply simply having power over the rest of society, but was always directed at the public good. The general will, therefore, infallibly pursued the benefit of the people. Another characteristic of the general will was that it was always abstract, or general. It could establish rules, set up social classes, or even a monarchial government, but it could never specify the particular individuals who were subject to the rules, particular members of the social classes, or the particular rulers in the government. The general will was directed at the good of the society as a whole, and was not to be confused with the collection of the wills of individuals, who would put their own needs, or the needs of their particular factions, above those of the general public.
Rousseau emphasized that the general will (volonté générale) was not merely the cancelled-out sum of all the individual wills of those who participate in the social contract, the will of all (volonté de tous).
There is often a great deal of difference between the will of all and the general will. The latter looks only to the common interest; the former considers private interest and is only a sum of private wills. But take away from these same wills the pluses and minuses that cancel each other out, and the remaining sum of the differences is the general will (Rousseau, Social Contract, Vol. IV, 146).
Rousseau warned that the influence of parties representing special interests would impede the kind of public deliberation that could arrive at a consensus regarding the welfare of all. Each individual must completely surrender his own interests to the whole and seek only the welfare of the community.
Although the general will must be arrived at through reasoned deliberation by the state as a whole, its execution depends upon its being embodied in the structure of government. Rousseau examined various forms of government in terms of how well they might be able to execute the sovereign laws. He considered democracy to be dangerous in application to particular cases in which the general will could easily be lost in the pressure of private interests; aristocracy was acceptable as long as it executed the general will rather than serving the welfare of the ruling elite; and monarchy clearly raised the temptation to seek private benefit at the expense of the common good. The appropriate form of government for any state depended upon the character of its people, and even on its physical climate.
Rousseau believed that the establishment of any government should be provisional and temporary, and subject to continued review and appraisal by its subjects. A representative legislative body could not determine the general will, because the social contract depended on the unanimous consent of all the governed. Sovereign general will could only be fully determined in an assembly of the entire population.
The fundamental problem of all social organization was to secure the participation of every individual in the general will. Rousseau maintained that general will, which could be considered in abstract to be a commitment to the welfare of the whole, was in principle indestructible, although in practice it might be obscured by the undesirable motives of some individuals. Since it was impractical to assemble the entire population every time a particular decision was to be made, Rousseau proposed that major questions should be decided upon by a majority of the population, but that matters requiring quick action could be determined by a simple majority. Leadership positions requiring skill should be filled by an election, while those which only require the exercise of good sense should be chosen by lot. In every case, Rousseau assumed that open debate would eventually result in an awareness on the part of each individual of what was truly in the best interests of the community as a whole, the general will.
Rousseau pointed out that general will was distinct from social customs that might be endorsed by public opinion. Social customs were not a conscious and deliberate determination of what was best for all, but simply social expressions of traditional mores. Even when traditional values were incorporated into the civil religion and therefore supposedly sanctioned by God and by the people, they did not necessarily express the general will.
Influence
The concept of the general will presented some philosophical difficulties. Rousseau argued that following the general will allowed for individual freedom. However, in promoting the interests of the whole, the general will might easily conflict with the interests of particular individuals. This conflict caused some intellectuals to criticize Rousseau’s political thought as hopelessly inconsistent, while others attempted to find middle ground between the two positions.Liberal thinkers, such as Isaiah Berlin, criticized the concept of general will on various grounds. Pluralists argued that the “common good” was a balanced aggregate of private interests, rather than one over-arching, quasi-metaphysical concept. Some pointed out that “desire” does not necessarily coincide with “best interest,” and that the imposition of the General Will was not consistent with autonomy or freedom. The distinction between a person's "empirical" (conscious) self and his "true" self, of which he is unaware, was essentially dogmatic and incapable of logical or empirical verification or even discussion. Rousseau did not offer any practical mechanism for the articulation of the general will, and suggested that under some conditions it might not actually be expressed by the majority, making the concept open to manipulation by totalitarian regimes that could use it to compel people against their actual will.
In spite of these difficulties, the concept of general will influenced political thinking during the formation of modern representative governments, and became incorporated in many aspects of civic planning, the judicial system, and institutions of social welfare.
