What Does Rousseau Mean When He Is Forced To Be Free

Now that the main ideas of Rousseau’s political thought have been exposed, the sense of ‘forced to be free can be explained by dividing the paragraph in that the phrase is located. “In order for the social compact not to be an ineffectual formula, it tacitly includes the following engagement, which alone can give force to the others: that whoever refuses to obey the general will shall be constrained to do so by the entire body; which means only that one will force him to be free. For this is the condition that, by giving each citizen to the homeland, guarantees him against all personal dependence; a condition that creates the ingenuity and functioning of the political machine, and alone gives legitimacy to civil engagements which without it would be absurd, tyrannical, and subject to the most …show more content…
As mentioned before, what truly makes man master of himself is moral freedom, achieved only in civil society. When we enter it, we abide by the general will and thus if we come to violate the social contract we also violate our moral freedom. We owe our morality and rationality to the constitution of that contract, which means that when we disobey the general will we refuse our highest sense of humanity. Therefore, when citizens are compelled to obey the general will, it is the same as saying that they are forced to preserve their moral freedom. Rousseau claims that “to renounce liberty is to renounce being a man, to surrender the rights of humanity and even its duties” (Rousseau, 1762, p.76). Henceforth, when someone is compelled by other citizens to obey the general will they make that individual realise his true humanity, be a citizen and part of the sovereign. With this claim Rousseau does not leave people another choice than to obey the general law, but more than being ‘forced’ to be free it should be ‘morally compelled’ to be