ABSTRACT
In total, by merging ourselves into the establishment of a unified sovereign body (the state) maintained by its own (general) will, we are freed from imposed subservience to others’ self-interest, in addition to which we gain the totality of all the powers of our fellow members (citizens), in ensuring that the conditions we do want are enforced. Underpinning this presentation is a notion of the imposing logic of reason. Reason is equally present and substantively the same in each person. Reason will dictate to all that the terms of the contract must be as Rousseau sets out, if they are to be legitimate and to work. Reason will compel individuals similarly in considering individual laws. Laws, to be laws, must be universal – they must set out general conditions which apply to each and every citizen. An example of this kind of law would be ‘no citizen can be discriminated against on the grounds of their religious belief’. This type of law is distinct from despotic edicts, because it cannot be aimed solely at specific events or particular people. The ultimate purpose of this design is that ‘Every authentic act of the general binds or favours all the citizens equally, so that the sovereign recognizes only the whole body of the nation and makes no distinction between any of the members that compose it’ (Cranston 1986: 76). Here Rousseau is setting out a distinction between rule by edict – that is, statements of will imposed by powerful elites on all social members – and the rule of law in which the rationale of the law compels all who encounter it to admit each law’s rightness by the force of its rationality. Because humans are rational, they will see the coherence of the laws, and they will note that only such universal laws could serve each individual’s liberties while also holding together the community which facilitates their individuality. For this reason, individual citizens will want the laws they have to obey, and there will be no clash between individual will, the general will, and the law which shapes and governs the community. The general will is thus more than a common agreement. It is a total unity of opinion and desire derived from rational analysis of what is objectively best for all.
