ABSTRACT
This is one of the important differences between Rousseau and Hobbes. For Hobbes, an association is merely a framework of rules and procedures sanctioned by coercive power, within which individuals pursue self-interested goals. For Rousseau, it creates the possibility of morality; for it provides the individual with a possible interest outside himself, in the welfare of the association as a whole, and through it, in the welfare of each of its members. The General Will will not emerge unless the members realize this possibility, and vote disinterestedly.
