The Social Contract
the social contract
is it possible for the individual to submit to the general will and still be free?
is it possible for the individual to submit to the general will and still be free?
According to Rousseau, when people join together to form a community, they create a political body with a life and will of its own. By giving all of his rights to the sovereign and thus to all of its members, a citizen gives himself to no one in particular. He gains the equivalent of the freedom that he loses, and now has a greater amount of force to protect his life and property.
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