Page 16 - GALIET ILLUSION: Rousseau IV

all to each?”42 Can a Sovereign actually be always rightful, and act strictly in the spirit of good will, always aiming at self-preservation and the common good of all. never seeking to harm any of its law- abiding members?43 Rousseau is aware of the dangers when sectarian interests begin to expand and exert influence and dominate the General Will and society at large, and when the “meanest interest impudently flaunts the sacred name of the public good, then silencing the General Will.”44 He is also aware that people are misled, that they don’t always know what is the good, and will what is bad.45 When these tensions arise between the Private Wills and the General Will, Rousseau suggests to take the “plus and minuses” of both wills at odds, and to abide by the balance, which is the General Will’s “common good.”46 But what occurs when the General Will’s notion of the “common good” is not enlightened, and it uses it as a double
42 Ibid., Book II. Chapter 4.
43 Ibid., Book I. Chapter 7.
44 Rousseau is aware of sectarianism. “When the social tie begins to slacken and
the state to weaken, when particular interests begin to make themselves felt and sectional societies begin to exert influence over the greater society, the common interest becomes corrupted and meets opposition, voting is no longer unanimous, the General Will is no longer the will of all; contradictions and disputes arise; and even the best opinion is not allowed to prevail unchallenged...when the state, on the brink of ruin, can maintain itself...illusory form, when the meanest interest impudently flaunts the scared name of the public good, then the General Will is silenced: everyone, animated by secret motives, ceases to speak as a citizen...and the people enacts in the guise of laws, iniquitious decrees which have private interests as their only end.” Book IV. Chapter I. Rousseau also does not favour sectarian groups because they cannot only dominate the General Will, but vote as a group and not individuals. See also Book II. Chapter 3.
45 Ibid., Book II. Chapter 3 and 6. “Individuals see the good and reject it; the public desires the good, but does not see it.” Rousseau knows they both need guidance. He gives Plato’s solution: individuals must subordinate will to reason, and the public taught to recognize what it desires. He suggests a “public enlightenment” is necessary in order to produce union of understanding and will and bring all parts into harmony. 83. See also Plato. The Republic. Book II, III, IV.
46 Ibid., Book II. Chapter 3. See also Book II. Chapter 6. “By themselves the people always will what is good, but by themselves, they do not always discern it... their judgment is not always enlightened.” 83.
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