GUIDE TO THE PHILOSOPHY 1938 - 1947.pdf - Rare Books at ...

8OGIETY. ITS NATURE AND ORIGIN 497
which all citizens are members of the legislative assembly,
But even in an extreme democracy there may be a more 01
less permanent majority which overrides the wishes oi
the more or less permanent minority. Can it, then, be said
of members of the minority "they all gain exactly as much
as they lose", or gain as much as members of the majority,
as a result of the contract to live in society? Prima facu
they do not, and it is to meet this difficulty that Rousseau
puts forward his doctrine of the General Will. This he
states as follows: "Each of us puts his person and all hi*
power tinder the supreme direction of the general will. . .
The act of association instantaneously substitutes for the
particular personality of each contractor a moral and
collective body . . . which by this very act receives ifc
unity, its common self, its life and its will."
Granted the existence of this General Will, we are asked
to believe that a law-abiding minority obeys not merely the
will of the particular majority which happens at the moment
to be determining the laws and policy of the State, but
also its own will, in so far as its own will is "general".
Elaboration of the Doctrine of the General Will
Rousseau's account of this General Will,
the will of each citizen, is far from clear.
following statements about it:
which is alsc
He makes the
(1) Since it is a will for the common and not for an)
sectional interest, it is always right in the sense that it ii
always disinterested. "Why," he asks, "is the general wil
always right, and why do all invariably will the happiness
of each? Because the general will, if it is to deserve the
name, must be general in its object as well aa in itsj
it must come from all and apply to all."
General Will always right, but there are ap
of generality and, therefore, of right
general will is always the most just, andjKheS^ice of the
people is, in fact, the voice of God."
(2) Since in regard to every question
State there is always a disinterested