6.

A Discourse on Political Economy

1755

Description of legitimate political regime based on general will" as a way for individuals' self-
interest to unite for a common good, and the individual's submission to government by contract,
stand at the heart of democracy.

political society - human body, organical movement

unified entity

various parts - particular functions

will looking general well-being

body politic, therefore, is also a moral being possessed of a will; and this general will, which tends
always to the preservation and welfare of the whole and of every part, and is the source of the laws,
constitutes for all the members of the State, in their relations to one another and to it, the rule of what
is just or unjust

general will(most just:farther from personal interest)- particular will(private interest, inversely
proportional to duty) : result of deliberation is not always equity but the voice of more powerful
interest groups with mutual advantages that succeed in securing their interest to the expense of the
weak and poor(this type of inequality, between fortunes, is to be mended by designing a system which
doesn t permit great accumulations

Every political society is composed of other smaller societies of different kinds, each of which has its
interests and its rules of conduct: but those societies which everybody perceives, because they have an
external and authorised form, are not the only ones that actually exist in the State: all individuals who
are united by a common interest compose as many others, either transitory or permanent, whose
influence is none the less real because it is less apparent, and the proper observation of whose various
relations is the true knowledge of public morals and manners

legitime gov – always obeying general will which is

assures preservation of whole

welfare of whole and every part(private prop, and state mechanism)

source and justification of laws

The major conflict in political philosophy occurs when the general will is at odds with one or
more of the individual wills of its citizens: taxes, private freedom limited to permit
others’freedom: price for being free is to be subjected to will of others at the same time=
conformity. So security depends on stability of consensus, otherwise society demolishd
power – head

laws and customs – brain

source of the nerves and seat of the understanding, will and senses, of which the Judges and
Magistrates are the organs:

commerce, industry, agriculture - mouth and stomach which prepare the common subsistence

public income - blood, which a prudent economy, in performing the functions of the heart, causes to
distribute through the whole body nutriment and life:

citizens - body ,members, which make the machine live, move and work

no part of this machine can be damaged without the painful impression being at once conveyed to the
brain, if the animal is in a state of health

Where this communication ceases, where the formal unity disappears, and the contiguous parts belong
to one another only by juxtaposition, the man is dead, or the State is dissolved.

state creates citizens through system of education

8.

conflict : general - individual will

politically virtuous state:

1. every action governed by general will

2. Insurance that every particular will is in accordance with general will

3. public needs must be satisfied.

equality between citizens – respect for law

law accorded to general will is convenient and generates patriotism because people have
the feeling they are free

Citizens follow these maxims when there is a sense of equality among them, and when they develop
a genuine respect for law. This again is in contrast to Hobbes, who says that laws are only followed
when people fear punishment. That is, the state must make the penalty for breaking the law so
severe that people do not see breaking the law to be of any advantage to them. Rousseau claims,
instead, that when laws are in accordance with the general will, good citizens will respect and love
both the state and their fellow citizens. Therefore, citizens will see the intrinsic value in the law, even
in cases in which it may conflict with their individual wills.

resolution may be advantageous to the smaller community, but pernicious to the greater. It is true that
particular societies being always subordinate to the general society in preference to others, the duty of
a citizen takes precedence of that of a senator, and a man's duty of that of a citizen: but unhappily
personal interest is always found in inverse ratio to duty, and increases in proportion as the association
grows narrower, and the engagement less sacred; which irrefragably proves that the most general will
is always the most just also, and that the voice of the people is in fact the voice of God.