PO201: Rousseau on Democracy
Lecture Notes:
Rousseau’s solution to the Fundamental Problem is for individuals to focus on the General
Will (founded on member’s commitment to treat each other’s as equals).
Rousseau believed that democratic systems would allow for the Fundamental Problem to
vanish – it just isn’t an issue anymore that people have to give up some liberty to become
part of the state. For, what we lose in one kind of freedom is made up for by the gains in
another type of freedom:
‘What man loses by the social contract is his natural freedom and an unlimited right
to everything that tempts him and he can reach; what he gains is Civil Freedom and
property in everything he possesses’.
‘To the preceding one might add to the credit to the civil state Moral Freedom, which
alone makes man truly the master of himself; for the impulsion of mere appetite is
slavery, and obedience to the law one has prescribed oneself is freedom’. [Chapter 8
The Social Contract].
Summary of the Fundamental Problem:
Fundamental Problem: How can we come together, set up and enforce laws, and still remain
free?
The Solution: A collective body in which each individual is both (a) a citizen, an integral part
of the sovereign (a law-making body); and (b) subject, obliged to obey the law.
Rousseau and Freedom:
- Rousseau views the natural freedom we have outside the state as a form of slavery –
we are ruled over by our instincts and impulses.
- Overcoming an impulse in order to do what we think is right can be viewed as a
different kind of freedom: freedom as self-rule or self-mastery.
- But for Rousseau, it is not enough for this to be an individual pursuit. To be truly
morally free, we must live in a society where all citizens can collectively participate in
a process of self-rule. True Moral Freedom involves helping to determine the
General Will, and then living by the laws it defines.
So what we have is the transformation of natural freedom (limited only by natural strength)
to Moral Freedom, obedience to the law which we prescribe to ourselves (being truly a
master of oneself). Allowing laws to be determined by the General Will helps citizens to
realise genuine Moral Freedom: they are overcoming their personal instincts and impulses
to live by a law they have given themselves. However, this leads to yet another problem, as
Rousseau also says:
‘Whoever refuses to obey the General Will shall be constrained to do so by the entire
body: which means nothing other than that he shall be forced to be free’. [Chapter 1].
Lecture Notes:
Rousseau’s solution to the Fundamental Problem is for individuals to focus on the General
Will (founded on member’s commitment to treat each other’s as equals).
Rousseau believed that democratic systems would allow for the Fundamental Problem to
vanish – it just isn’t an issue anymore that people have to give up some liberty to become
part of the state. For, what we lose in one kind of freedom is made up for by the gains in
another type of freedom:
‘What man loses by the social contract is his natural freedom and an unlimited right
to everything that tempts him and he can reach; what he gains is Civil Freedom and
property in everything he possesses’.
‘To the preceding one might add to the credit to the civil state Moral Freedom, which
alone makes man truly the master of himself; for the impulsion of mere appetite is
slavery, and obedience to the law one has prescribed oneself is freedom’. [Chapter 8
The Social Contract].
Summary of the Fundamental Problem:
Fundamental Problem: How can we come together, set up and enforce laws, and still remain
free?
The Solution: A collective body in which each individual is both (a) a citizen, an integral part
of the sovereign (a law-making body); and (b) subject, obliged to obey the law.
Rousseau and Freedom:
- Rousseau views the natural freedom we have outside the state as a form of slavery –
we are ruled over by our instincts and impulses.
- Overcoming an impulse in order to do what we think is right can be viewed as a
different kind of freedom: freedom as self-rule or self-mastery.
- But for Rousseau, it is not enough for this to be an individual pursuit. To be truly
morally free, we must live in a society where all citizens can collectively participate in
a process of self-rule. True Moral Freedom involves helping to determine the
General Will, and then living by the laws it defines.
So what we have is the transformation of natural freedom (limited only by natural strength)
to Moral Freedom, obedience to the law which we prescribe to ourselves (being truly a
master of oneself). Allowing laws to be determined by the General Will helps citizens to
realise genuine Moral Freedom: they are overcoming their personal instincts and impulses
to live by a law they have given themselves. However, this leads to yet another problem, as
Rousseau also says:
‘Whoever refuses to obey the General Will shall be constrained to do so by the entire
body: which means nothing other than that he shall be forced to be free’. [Chapter 1].
