Book 2 Flashcards
‘The general will alone can direct the forces of the state according to the end of its institution, which is the…
Common good.’
By sovereignty Rousseau means the exercise of the general will
-> the general will achieves the common good
‘It is solely in terms of this common interest that …
society ought to be governed.’
‘For the same reason that sovereignty is inalienable…
It is indivisible.’
‘For a will to be general, it is not always necessary that it be unianimous, but it is necessary that …
all votes be counted; any formal exclusion destroys generality.’
Laws properly speaking are no more that society’s conditions of association. The people, being subject to the laws, …
must create them; if is the associates who have the right to determine the conditions of society.’
‘… the objects of laws are always general… the law…
always considers the subjects of the stage as a collectivity and actions in the abstract, but never a man as an individual, nor any particular action.’
There is often a difference between the will of everyone and the general will; the latter is
latter is concerned only with the common interest, while the former is concerned with private interests.’
the factor which makes the Will general is not so much the number of persons voting, …
but rather the common interest that unites them.’
‘… the social state is advantageous to men only if all have a certain amount, and…
None too much.’
‘as regards wealth… no citizens should be rich enough to buy another, and none…
so poor that he has to sell himself.’
