An idea · Early Modern · first attested 1762
The General Will
The collective will aimed at the common good — not the sum of private wills.
Rousseau's most contested concept. The general will is what a community wills as a community pursuing the common good, distinct from the mere aggregation of individual preferences. Acting according to it makes one free, because it is one's own will properly understood. Critics see in it the seed of totalitarianism; defenders see the soul of democracy.