Sociedade da vontade geral e liberdade individual em Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Abstract

In Of the Social Contract, Rousseau says that in the civil state the man enjoys individual freedom at the same time as a member of the social body, whose general will is the driving force of the State. That is, the philosopher shows that, on the other hand, the general will, founded through the metaphor of the social body united for the common good of the members, is sovereign to drive life in society and, on the other, the man is to be free in that, as a member of that body, rules your life through laws that he erects on himself, because to be truly master of himself is nothing but to listen the voice of duty or consults the reason, rather than the physical impulse that drives human life in the state of nature. Therefore, according to Gérard Lebrun, Rousseau’s social pact confines the man in the public good, denying him individual freedom. Our research consists to examine as is possible to think the general will and individual freedom in society, aiming to refute the criticism of Lebrun.