General Will
Rousseau's concept of the collective rational will of a political community, distinct from the mere sum of individual preferences, representing what all citizens would will if they thought entirely of the common good rather than their private interests.
The general will is Rousseau's attempt to reconcile freedom and authority: how can citizens be free while still obligated to obey the law? His answer: when citizens obey the general will, they are obeying their own highest rational nature, the part of them that wants what is genuinely good for the community, rather than the selfish part that wants private advantage.
The distinction matters: the 'will of all' is just the sum of individual preferences (what everyone happens to want); the general will is what the community rationally ought to want for the common good. These can diverge significantly, especially when individual preferences are shaped by ignorance or manipulation.
This creates the concept's dangerous ambiguity: who decides what the general will is? Rousseau's answer, that the general will cannot be wrong, and that the state embodies it, provides exactly the logical framework for authoritarian rule in democracy's name. Robespierre invoked the general will to justify the Terror; every 20th-century totalitarian movement used similar logic to claim that oppression was really liberation.
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Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between the general will and the will of all? ＋
The will of all is the sum of individual preferences, what people happen to want. The general will is what citizens would rationally want if they thought exclusively of the community's good. They can diverge: the majority might prefer something that is bad for the community.
How has the general will been used to justify tyranny? ＋
By claiming that the Party, the Leader, or the Revolution embodies the general will, authoritarian regimes can frame opposition to them as opposition to the people themselves. Robespierre used this logic in the Terror; Lenin used it to justify the Bolshevik dictatorship.