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

SOCIETY. ITS NATURE AND ORIGIN 507
sectional interest. It is not likely, therefore, to be advo-
cated by any one sectional interest in opposition to another.
In so far, therefore, as it is advocated at all, it will tend to
be advocated only by those who have at heart the communal
interest.
(4) The communal interest is the same for all. There-
fore, when I will the communal interest, what I am willing
will be identical with what my neighbour is willing, when
he too wills the communal interest. While, therefore, my
will, and that of my neighbour will be apt to diverge in so
far as we are concerned with our own particular sectional
interests, they will coincide when he and I will the
common interest.
(5) On a committee or other public body opposed sectional
interests are liable to cancel out. Thus, if X wants A and
Y wants B, and the number of those who support X is
equal to the number who support Y, neither A nor B
1
will be decided upon. Even if there is a majority in favour
"of X, the existence of opposition may lead to concessions
being made to the opposing minority. It is not, therefore,
X in its original integrity which is decided upon, but X
shorn of certain controversial features, or X diluted with
elements derived from Y. This is the most usual result
reached on a committee where interests are opposed, and
is called compromise. When, however, everybody is willing
the same thing, the necessity for compromise does not
arise. There is, therefore, a tendency for what Rousseau
would call the General Will to find expression on a committee,
just because it is the one will which everybody may
be supposed to have in common. Thus where sectional
wills cancel out, the General Will may prevail.
It is, however, at least as likely that the course of action
which the committee decides to adopt will represent a
mechanical resultant, in the sense of resultant defined
above, 1 of the conflicting sectional wills of all its members.
If this happens, the committee's action will represent nobody's
will. This result is the one most commonly reached
1 Sec p. 509.