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Single Idea 19792

[filed under theme 24. Political Theory / A. Basis of a State / 1. A People / c. A unified people ]

Full Idea

Men have no other means of maintaining themselves but to form by aggregation a sum of forces that could gain the upper hand over the resistance of obstacles, so that their forces are directed by means of a single moving power and made to act in concert.

Gist of Idea

To overcome obstacles, people must unite their forces into a single unified power

Source

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (The Social Contract (tr Cress) [1762], I.6)

Book Ref

Rousseau,Jean-Jacques: 'The Basic Political Writings', ed/tr. Cress,Donald A. [Hackett 1987], p.147

A Reaction

I prefer the Aristotelian view, that men are naturally gregarious and social (like bees and ants), so this act of solidarity in superfluous. A human people is only broken up by violence or disaster, like kicking over an ants' nest.

Related Idea

Idea 19793 We need a protective association which unites forces, but retains individual freedom [Rousseau]

The 86 ideas from 'The Social Contract (tr Cress)'

20501 Rousseau assumes that laws need a people united by custom and tradition [Rousseau, by Wolff,J]
20567 Rousseau insists that popular sovereignty needs a means of expressing consent [Rousseau, by Oksala]
7232 Man is born free, and he is everywhere in chains [Rousseau]
7233 The social order is a sacred right, but based on covenants, not nature [Rousseau]
19790 Force can only dominate if it is seen as a right, and obedience as a duty [Rousseau]
7235 Without freedom of will actions lack moral significance [Rousseau]
19791 Natural mankind is too fragmented for states of peace, or of war and enmity [Rousseau]
7234 No man has any natural authority over his fellows [Rousseau]
7236 War gives no right to inflict more destruction than is necessary for victory [Rousseau]
7238 Minorities only accept majority-voting because of a prior unanimous agreement [Rousseau]
7237 The act of becoming 'a people' is the real foundation of society [Rousseau]
19792 To overcome obstacles, people must unite their forces into a single unified power [Rousseau]
7239 The social pact is the total subjection of individuals to the general will [Rousseau]
19793 We need a protective association which unites forces, but retains individual freedom [Rousseau]
19794 If we all give up all of our rights together to the community, we will always support one another [Rousseau]
7240 To foreign powers a state is seen as a simple individual [Rousseau]
19795 The act of association commits citizens to the state, and the state to its citizens [Rousseau]
19796 Individual citizens still retain a private will, which may be contrary to the general will [Rousseau]
19797 Citizens must ultimately for forced to accept the general will (so freedom is compulsory!) [Rousseau]
7241 In society man loses natural liberty, but gains a right to civil liberty and property [Rousseau]
7242 Appetite alone is slavery, and self-prescribed laws are freedom [Rousseau]
19800 The social compact imposes conventional equality of rights on people who may start unequally [Rousseau]
19799 Private property must always be subordinate to ownership by the whole community [Rousseau]
19798 Ancient monarchs were kings of peoples; modern monarchs more cleverly rule a land [Rousseau]
19801 Sovereignty is the exercise of the general will, which can never be delegated [Rousseau]
7243 Silence of the people implies their consent [Rousseau]
7244 The general will is common interest; the will of all is the sum of individual desires [Rousseau]
19802 The general will is always right, but the will of all can err, because it includes private interests [Rousseau]
19803 If the state contains associations there are fewer opinions, undermining the general will [Rousseau]
19804 If a large knowledgeable population votes in isolation, their many choices will have good results [Rousseau]
19808 The general will changes its nature when it focuses on particulars [Rousseau]
19807 Both nature and reason require that everything has a cause [Rousseau]
19805 Just as people control their limbs, the general-will state has total control of its members [Rousseau]
19806 We alienate to society only what society needs - but society judges that, not us [Rousseau]
19809 We accept the death penalty to prevent assassinations, so we must submit to it if necessary [Rousseau]
19810 A trial proves that a criminal has broken the social treaty, and is no longer a member of the state [Rousseau]
19811 Only people who are actually dangerous should be executed, even as an example [Rousseau]
7245 Natural justice, without sanctions, benefits the wicked, who exploit it [Rousseau]
7246 The general will is always good, but sometimes misunderstood [Rousseau]
19812 Human nature changes among a people, into a moral and partial existence [Rousseau]
19814 A state must be big enough to preserve itself, but small enough to be governable [Rousseau]
19815 Too much land is a struggle, producing defensive war; too little makes dependence, and offensive war [Rousseau]
19816 A state's purpose is liberty and equality - liberty for strength, and equality for liberty [Rousseau]
7247 The greatest social good comes down to freedom and equality [Rousseau]
7248 No citizen should be rich enough to buy another, and none so poor as forced to sell himself [Rousseau]
19819 The state ensures liberty, so civil law separates citizens, and binds them to the state [Rousseau]
19817 Citizens should be independent of each other, and very dependent on the state [Rousseau]
19818 Political laws are fundamental, as they firmly organise the state - but they could still be changed [Rousseau]
19822 If the state enlarges, the creators of the general will become less individually powerful [Rousseau]
19823 If the population is larger, the government needs to be more powerful [Rousseau]
19820 The state has a legislature and an executive, just like the will and physical power in a person [Rousseau]
19821 I call the executive power the 'government', which is the 'prince' - a single person, or a group [Rousseau]
19824 Large populations needs stronger control, which means power should be concentrated [Rousseau]
19826 Democracy for small states, aristocracy for intermediate, monarchy for large [Rousseau]
19825 If the sovereign entrusts government to at least half the citizens, that is 'democracy' [Rousseau]
19827 Law makers and law implementers should be separate [Rousseau]
19828 Democracy leads to internal strife, as people struggle to maintain or change ways of ruling [Rousseau]
19829 Natural aristocracy is primitive, and hereditary is dreadful, but elective aristocracy is best [Rousseau]
7249 Natural aristocracy is primitive, hereditary is bad, and elective aristocracy is the best [Rousseau]
19830 Large states need a nobility to fill the gap between a single prince and the people [Rousseau]
19835 When ministers change the state changes, because they always reverse policies [Rousseau]
19832 Democratic elections are dangerous intervals in government [Rousseau]
19831 The highest officers under a monarchy are normally useless; the public could choose much better [Rousseau]
19834 Attempts to train future kings don't usually work, and the best have been unprepared [Rousseau]
19833 Hereditary monarchy is easier, but can lead to dreadful monarchs [Rousseau]
19836 The amount of taxation doesn't matter, if it quickly circulates back to the citizens [Rousseau]
19838 The measure of a successful state is increase in its population [Rousseau]
19837 If inhabitants are widely dispersed, organising a revolt is much more difficult [Rousseau]
19839 The flourishing of arts and letters is too much admired [Rousseau]
7250 Laws are authentic acts of the general will [Rousseau]
19840 A citizen is a subject who is also sovereign [Rousseau]
7251 The English are actually slaves in between elections [Rousseau]
19841 Sometimes full liberty is only possible at the expense of some complete enslavement [Rousseau]
19843 The state is not bound to leave civil authority to its leaders [Rousseau]
19844 Assemblies must always confirm the form of government, and the current administration [Rousseau]
19842 The government is instituted by a law, not by a contract [Rousseau]
19846 The more unanimous the assembly, the stronger the general will becomes [Rousseau]
19847 We can never assume that the son of a slave is a slave [Rousseau]
19848 The sovereignty does not appoint the leaders [Rousseau]
19850 By separating theological and political systems, Jesus caused divisions in the state [Rousseau]
19851 Every society has a religion as its base [Rousseau]
19852 Civil religion needs one supreme god, an afterlife, justice, and the sanctity of the social contract [Rousseau]
19853 All religions should be tolerated, if they tolerate each other, and support citizenship [Rousseau]
19849 In early theocracies the god was the king, and there were as many gods as nations [Rousseau]
7252 A tyrant exploits Christians because they don't value this life, and are made to be slaves [Rousseau]
23607 Wars are between States, not people, and the individuals are enemies by accident [Rousseau]