KEY TERMS
What does Rousseau mean by
justice?
by right?
by utility?
by convention?
by natural liberty vs. civil liberty?
BIG ISSUES
Compare Rousseau to Hobbes
and to Locke, on each of the following issues:
Are there genuine moral
constraints? Does might make right?
What is the nature of
paternal power?:
Are promises made from fear
of death morally binding? Are promises
to a thief or pirate (brigand) binding?
Do slaves have a duty of
obedience to their masters?
Can an absolute monarch be
legitimate?
Are there ownership rights in
the State of
Is there equality in the
state of nature?
Are there any inalienable
rights?
Does Rousseau advocate
freedom of expression?
What about freedom of
religion?
The State of
Are there any moral
constraints in the State of
Are there any rights in the
State of
Is the State of
How do individuals escape the
state of nature and become a people?
Is express consent necessary
or is tacit consent enough?
What are the benefits of
civil society?
The Original Pact
What problem is the Original
Pact a solution to?
How does the Original Pact
solve that problem?
What are the terms of the
Original Pact?
Must the terms of the
Original Pact be agreed to explicitly?
Do the members of a body
politic retain any of their State of
Who is the Sovereign;?
Explain the distinction
between State/Sovereign/Power and People/Citizens/Subjects?
What is the difference
between the Sovereign and the government?
Is government established by
contract?
What is the sole end of the
State?
Are there any moral or legal
constraints on the Sovereign?
What does Rousseau think of
representative democracy?
What is the General Will?
The Goal: The common good.
Laws are general conventions;
magistrates apply them to particular cases.
The general will is one in which all interests agree, because all are
benefited. No subject is burdened more
than any other.
What the General Will is not:
(1) It is not defined by the Utilitarian Formula (Maximize
Total or Average Well-Being)
The common good promotes the good of every member. Maximizing an average or total can involve
sacrificing the good of some for the greater good of others.
(2) It is not defined by any voting rule, not majority rule,
not any supermajority rule, not even unanimity.
Distinction between the will of all and the general will.
Condorcet's voting paradox as an
example of the problem of defining the general will with any voting rule.
Each votes on behalf of all.
How is the General Will
determined?
Can the General Will err?
What should be done when a
particular private will conflicts with the General Will? Why is coercion of private
wills permissible?
What is freedom?
Rousseau on Legitimate Government
The Key Idea: All
governments constrain by force. Only
legitimate governments constrain by right (i.e., are supported by a duty to
obey).
Only a government that expresses the General Will is
legitimate.
Therefore, the terms of the Original Agreement are largely
irrelevant to determining government legitimacy. Any agreement not to be governed by the
General Will would not create a duty of the citizens to obey the
government. Such a government would be
based only on force.
Why is sovereignty inalienable?
Why is sovereignty indivisible?
What is the best form of
government?
The problem of conflicts
between private will, corporate will, and general will.
What happens when a
government becomes illegitimate—that is, when government power is used for
private purposes?