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Book 2, Chapter 2
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Social Contract, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Human Freedom and Society
Sovereignty, Citizenship, and Direct Democracy
Government and the Separation of Powers
National Longevity and Moral Virtue
Summary
Analysis
While “the general will is always rightful and always tends to the public good,” this does not mean that the people always know what is in their best interests. Rousseau distinguishes “the general will,” which is about what is in people’s common interest, with “the will of all,” which is “the sum of individual desires.” However, the “sum” inevitably includes “pluses and minuses which cancel each other out,” and a truly functioning state will examine these “pluses and minuses” and make compromises to even them out. But worse states split into factions or parties that fights for their private interests, and in a truly dysfunctional state, a majority simply “outweigh[s] the rest” and pursues its private agenda at the expense of the general will. Rousseau concludes that “every citizen should make up [their] own mind” and political parties should either not exist or be as small (and numerous) as possible.
By analyzing how political deliberations can derive a sense of the general will from the mere “sum of individual desires,” Rousseau provides a roadmap for both how individual citizens can figure out what general interest they ought to promote and how a deliberative body, as a whole, will tend to work towards the general will by eliminating the “pluses and minuses which cancel each other out.” However, this also requires a prior commitment by the deliberative body to seek the common good, rather than split up power through political parties—this is another reason that Rousseau would be very dissatisfied with modern political culture, especially in countries like the United States, where only two parties hold significant power.
Themes
