The Social Contract and a Case of the Majority Not Winning

In Rousseau's Social Contract, he touched on many important ideas of the enlightened era. The most prominent one was the concept of the general will. The general will is the will of the people which will do the best for the people. It is whatever will do the best for the greatest number of people even if the people do not want it. The government has the duty to the do the best actions for the people. This idea of general will is very different from the will of the majority. The will of the majority is what the most people want; it's a case of majority wins. In this will, the majority's will might not always be the best for the people. In majority will, there is no concept that the best action will take place even if the people don't want it. 

 

Using this image, the majority will is the lower scale. In a majority will, this group would win. However, in the general will, they would only win if their idea was the best course of action. The higher scale could also win if they had the best course. 

In the general will, there can be cases of error. When there are partial wills, they alter the general will. Partial wills occur when factions rise. The factions break up the general will into smaller portions, thus the state is broken up into smaller pieces. By making all factions equal, the general will remains balanced. When the factions are balanced the best action will take place, not the popular one. 

Rousseau also commented on freedom. Everyone wants freedom but what some may not know is there are two types of freedom. The first is positive freedom. This freedom allows you to do things. It grants you freedoms, such as freedom of speech. Negative freedom, however, is freedom from things. By denying such acts as murder, the government takes away your right to murder but grants you the freedom to be safe. Although the government is taking away a freedom, it is granting the better freedom of safety. Another example is that one cannot yell "fire" in a crowded theater. Although, your freedom of speech is not completely free, it protects you from danger.