![]() Because the sovereign simply consists of the people, Rousseau continues, legislation really consists of a people collectively choosing to do what is in their collective best interests, which means that they preserve their freedom through society (rather than sacrificing it to the state, as thinkers like Hobbes and Grotius suggest). Rousseau emphasizes that this public good is about what people share in common, and not simply “the sum of individual desires,” because one individual may desire something that is harmful to another individual (and therefore not beneficial for the citizenry as a whole). Rousseau argues that a state is only legitimate if it follows the general will-or, more specifically, if its sovereign (legislative) power is guided by the general will when it formulates the nation’s laws-that is, if it creates the policies that are in the public good. ![]() General will is a complicated but very important concept that essentially refers to a society’s capacity to pursue the goals that are in its citizens’ common interests. ![]()
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