Rousseau's Social Contract: How We Became Slaves › The Core Insight

::: {.callout-note title="The Central Thesis"} Legitimate political authority arises only when individuals unite to form a collective body that makes laws for itself. In obeying these self-imposed laws, citizens remain as free as they were before. Indeed, they achieve a higher form of freedom than solitary individuals ever could. ::: Rousseau's contribution lies in reframing the problem. Previous social contract theorists asked: what do we get in exchange for surrendering our natural freedom? Rousseau asks instead: how can we unite in society without surrendering freedom at all? His answer is the _general will_, a collective will that aims at the common good rather than private interests. When citizens participate in forming the general will and then obey the laws it produces, they aren't submitting to an external authority. They're obeying themselves. The paradox dissolves: you can be both subject to law and genuinely free, because the law is your own will writ large.