ABSTRACT
Jean Jacques Rousseau contributed to his development of the principle of the autonomy of the will, by means of which he reconciled law with liberty. The interpretation of Rousseau throughout the greater part of the nineteenth century suffered from the fact that he was viewed through the mists of the revolutionary age. The identification of Rousseau with the revolution has naturally prevailed most strongly in France, where indeed his name has become a political war-cry. The political ideas of Rousseau throw a valuable light on the origins of many of the fundamental political ideas of the nineteenth century and of the present day, and are of great aid in the comprehension of those ideas, quite apart from any influence he may or may not have exercised. One of the more recent onslaughts on Rousseau is that of Professor Talmon, according to whom Rousseau’s general will was the driving force behind the rise of totalitarian democracy.
