谈社约论书

A Letter Concerning Rousseau's On Social Contcact

在卢梭的《社会契约论》中,“公意”是一个核心概念。按照卢梭的意见,人民将自己的权利转让给集体,以公意作为最高的指导;人民投票决定公意,然后又遵守公意的决定;公意代表自由,强迫某人服从公意,就是强迫他自由;公意容易受骗,所以需要一个具有最高智慧、超脱物外的立法者来作引导,来为国家创制。本文作者认为,上述观点均需重新审视。

In Rousseau' s THE SOCIAL CONTRACT, 'general will ' is a core concept.According to Rousseau,individuals transfer their rights to the collective and take ' general will' as the supreme mandate.People vote for 'general will' and thereafter put themselves under its sway, 'general will' stands for freedom, and to force it upon an individual it is equivalent to forcing freedom upon him. Since 'general will 'can be shortsighted and misled,a man of superlative misdom and loftiness is called for aa a legislator.This paper re-examines the foregoing viewpoints of the French philospher.