This article discusses the concept of Rousseau's "General Will" as interpreted by Abbe Sieyes, Johann Fichte, and Giuseppe Mazzini in context to their own nations.
‘Each one of us puts into the community his person and all his powersunder the supreme direction of the general will; and as a body, we incorporate every member as an indivisible part of the whole.’
Rousseau
It is in this statement that Rousseau sets forth the idea of the “general will,” that is to say, the will of the people. In his opinion, this is the backbone, the underlying truth, of any social contract. In joining with other citizens, an individual essentially forfeits his individuality to become a part of the whole. With this act Rousseau states that the group finds its unity, “its life and its will.” (Rousseau, 61). It the “general will” of the people, not the desires of the king or aristocratic body, that truly matters, for the people are the nation. That is the basic argument Rousseau puts forth in his Social Contract. This idea can be seen in many instances from the French Revolution to the unification efforts in Germany and Italy. Many revolutionary writers have taken hold of this idea of the “general will” and suited it to their respective causes. The writings of Sieyes, Fichte, and Mazzini are prime examples of this.
"The Third Estate"
Abbe Sieyes’s What is the Third Estate was written one year after the death of Rousseau. It further expounds on the ideals set forth in The Social Contract. Sieyes states that the Third Estate represents the majority of the population and therefore is the nation. He makes it clear in his writings that the “general will,” simply put, is the majority. It is the collective will of the people. How then can the will of the few override the many? Sieyes states that this is contrary to the nature of things. (Sieyes, 54). However, only men who meet the requirements of citizenship are worthy of representation. This is a fundamental flaw in the idea of the general will. Sieyes essentially wants to remove the existing privileged class, and replace it with a new class of citizens who would in this way be privileged. What role then do the non-citizens play in the nation?
"People as the Nation"
Johann Fichte further developed the idea of the “general will” and the “people as the nation.” However, his definition of who constitutes the nation varies from that given by Sieyes. Fichte, in his Addresses to the German Nation, states that every man who speaks and understands the German language should consider himself a part of the German nation and therefore do his part to advance the nation. He calls on Germans to hold up the ideals of their nation. Ideals of their forefathers who fought, presumably, for a belief in their nation, or more accurately, their people. He states that if every individual begins to think in the same way, “there will soon be formed a large community which will be fused into a single close-connected force.” (Fichte, 1). This statement resonates of Rousseau’s “general will”. Only by joining together to form a majority can a German nation be formed. If this union fails to come about, the dream of a unified German nation will fail as well. He also mentions “essential nature,” something that Sieyes refers to as well. “ If you perish in this your essential nature, then there perishes together with you every hope of the whole human race…” (Fichte, 3).
"General Aspirations"
Giuseppe Mazzini brings “general will” into his call for Italian unification. In his Duties of Man, he states that, “the true life of Italy is the life of the people.” (Mazzini, 1). He speaks of duties to humanity, just as Fichte did. As he sees it, one must see himself as part of humanity before being part of the nation. It is in this environment of “brotherhood” that Mazzini feels an Italian state can grow. He mentions the importance of a common language in forming a nation, but does not focus on this as Fichte does. Mazzini sees all people living in Italy as Italians, thus equals. “There can be no association except among equals…” (Mazzini, 3). This is a crucial point he makes. A country, to Mazzini, is an association, a “collective existence.” (Mazzini, 3). This is the basis of the “general will” of Rousseau, or the “general aspirations” of Mazzini.
The concept of “general will” that Rousseau envisioned played a crucial part in the ideologies of many future revolutionary thinkers. However, it can be seen that this concept was molded to fit the various nationalistic movements. Sieyes’ interpretation of “general will” was that of the majority of citizens in a nation. Just what makes a man a citizen is another question. Fichte envisioned all people who occupied German lands and shared a common tongue as the definition of a nation. Mazzini also saw the importance of a common language in building a nation, but more importantly he saw all Italians as equals. This formed the basis of his “general aspirations.” The “general will” is key to the forming of a nation. The term signifies the majority of the people and their views. Like all great ideals it grew and changed form to fit the times and circumstances of many fledgling nations. General will played a very important part in shaping the ideals of many revolutionary thinkers and the nations they helped create.
Fichte, Johann G. Addresses to the German Nation.
Mazzini, Giuseppe. Duties of Man.
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. The Social Contract. New York: Penguin, 1968.
Sieyes, Abbe. What is the Third Estate. Laura Mason and Tracey Rizzo, ed. The French
Revolution: A Document Collection. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1999.
