The General will Before Rousseau

@article{Riley1978TheGW,
  title={The General will Before Rousseau},
  author={Patrick Riley},
  journal={Political Theory},
  year={1978},
  volume={6},
  pages={485 - 516}
}
will” (volontk gkltkrale)~ is central in Rousseau’s political and moral philosophy; Rousseau himself says that “the general will is always right,”2 that it is “the will that one has as a citizen”3-when one thinks of the common good and not of one’s own “particular will” ( V O ~ O F Z I ~ partictrlie‘re) as a “private person.” Even virtue, he says, is nothing but a “conforming” of one’s personal volontt particuliere to the public volontt gtntrale-a conforming which “leads us out of ourselves,”4… Expand
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References

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The negation characteristic ofconsciousness.. . cancels in such away that it preserves and maintains what is sublated
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The fourth of the Lerrres sur la Grace was apparently published as early as 1718 in Fbe'on, Oeuvres Spiriruelles (Antaerp, 1718). -38. The most important of hlalbranche's writings conrra Arnauld are
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To those therefore whose power is irresistible, the dominion of all men adhereth naturally by their excellence or power
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107. Ibid.. p. I I I. 108. hlontesquieu, Lerrres Persanes
  • the broadest sense, are the necessary relations which 106. htontesquieu, Trait6 des Devoirs
Action de Dieu siir les Cr6atures. (Paris. 1713), p. 70. 83. Ibid
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All translations from the French are my own, unless otherwise indicated)
    Both ' pieces are to be found in Oeuvres de hfalebranclie
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      Discours dur I'IngalitP
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