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The Individual Will And The General Will
The shift between being able to follow the individual will and the general will is not so easy to establish.
Finding the general will is based on three approaches.
- A highly democratic model is where citizenry discusses legislation at town hall meetings. Magistrates would be elected and be duty-bound to execute the legislation as determined by the people.
- Another model is that a "legislator" (someone who knows what good laws and morals are) can show people the general will by either guiding discussion or helping people identify with the common cause.
- A third is a hybrid of the two.
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Philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a Swiss Enlightenment philosopher who argued passionately for democracy, equality, liberty and supporting the common good.
Rousseau was born in Geneva in 1712. He wrote several major works on politics, education, music and botany. But his controve...
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The General Will
The general will is the key to Rousseau's social contract theory. He stated that any legitimate state must be based on the general will. All laws and actions the state undertakes must be in accordance with it.
The general will is the will of the sum of individual w...
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Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Ideas Can Broaden Our Thinking
As with most political philosophy, the real concern is how his big ideas are considered in our society.
Whenever we discuss topics like what it takes for a government to be legitimate, if modern society is good for us, or what we think should be subject to a vote, we draw ...
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The Social Contract Theory
If the state of nature is so pleasant and people in it so moral, why would anybody create a society or join up with one?
Jean-Jacques Rousseau suggested this natural evolution is the result of the need for individuals to cooperate. However, forming societies takes...
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Questioning If Society Provides Anything Beneficial
Jean-Jacques Rousseau argued that human nature only becomes corrupted after we move into society.
- He thought problems like theft could only be problems after society formed.
- He argues that art and science haven't improved most people's moral fibre.
- ...
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Living In A Rousseauan Society
The positive:
- The general will could ensure an equal society.
- Major inequalities would be absent.
- It would be a small society, as Jean-Jacques Rousseau feared a large country would not find the common cause.
- People would be able to act free...
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Examples Of A Near Rousseauan Society
- In practice, the Quakers got the closest to a Jean-Jacques Rousseauan society even though it is a religious notion unrelated to Rousseau's philosophy. The Quakers seek God's will through discussion and end up in agreement on what it is.
- The French Revolution can be viewed as an att...
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The State of Nature
Jean-Jacques Rousseau speculated about what the world was like before societies were created. It was important for political philosophers as it could be used to explain the motivation for creating and supporting a state.
Rousseau suggested that the state of nature was a morally neu...
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