On Rousseau’s Concept Of The General Will

What is general will? This is a problem.The general will is based on the private will of man,but it is higher than the private will of man;the general will is divine,but it bows itself to the earth.In the Theory of Social contract,Rousseau expounds for us an exciting philosophical concept: general will.Under the guidance of the general will,people will not leave everything to the rulers like Hobbes,nor will they just guard their property rights like Locke.Instead,he gives everything to the community in order to expect to get everything from the community.Since the Enlightenment,the concept of general will has influenced numerous political movements,especially the French Revolution.Although the French Revolution failed in the end,the concept of general will was not denied at the same time,but aroused people’s reflection on it.The first thing to analyze in this paper is the influence of philosophers in different periods on Rousseau’s political philosophy.It includes the pursuit of " Good" by the classical political philosophers Plato and Aristotle,as well as the concept of contract theory put forward by Hobbes and Locke in different times.Next,we will focus on Rousseau’s concept of general will,which is a political idea.Under the guidance of this concept,members of the community should dedicate everything they have to the community.The more concerned the community is,the closer it is to the general will.In order to build a community take general will as code,the forms of government can be different,but we must persist in governing the country according to law.Because this is the basic means to ensure the implementation of the general will.The concept of general will is an idealized concept,but it does not prevent us from taking it as a goal to build a better community.At the end of the paper,I will clarify the fallacies in these views by analyzing several mainstream views on Rousseau’s concept of general will,so as to achieve the purpose of deepening the understanding of the concept of general will.