General will

The general will, first enunciated by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, 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 the body politic (community of citizens) would unanimously do if they were selecting general laws and were choosing/voting with full information, good reasoning, unclouded judgment (bias and emotion can cloud judgment), public spirit, and attempting to discern the common good.

People should submit their will to the general will which cannot be wrong and whoever refused would be subject to compulsion, so to express the general will is to express every man's common will. The individual and all his rights are to be handed over to the whole community, and in compelling him to conform the community is only "forcing him to be free".

Criticism

Liberal thinkers, for example Isaiah Berlin, have criticised the concept of General Will from a variety of angles:

• The idea that there is one path which benefits everyone is itself contested. Under the pluralist tradition, the common good is considered to be an aggregate of private interests, which needs balancing, rather than one over-arching, quasi-metaphysical concept.
• Even if there was one path which benefited everyone, it is a mistake to say that it is then their will. There is a difference between interest and desire. Thus the imposition of the General Will is not consistent with autonomy or freedom.
• The concept depends on a distinction between a person's "empirical" (i.e. conscious) self and his "true" self, of which he is unaware. This idea is essentially dogmatic and mystical, and is incapable of logical or empirical verification or even discussion.
• Rousseau offers no mechanism for the articulation of the General Will. He suggests that under some conditions it may not actually be expressed by the majority. But who is in a position to rule on what the General Will is? Thus the concept could be manipulated by totalitarian regimes, who compel people against their actual will.

See also

• Popular sovereignty
• Absolute monarchy, a monarchy where the ruler has the power to rule his or her country and citizens freely with no laws or legally-organized direct opposition.
• Political absolutism, one person (generally, a monarch) should hold all power.

de:Volonté générale fr:Volonté générale he:הרצון הכללי nl:Algemene wil

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