On the paradoxical structure of the “General Will” and its legitimacy crisis: An analysis based on Rousseau's the social contract
论“公意”的悖论结构及其正当性危机——基于卢梭《社会契约论》分析

摘要

卢梭在其著作《社会契约论》之中提出了“公意”概念，作为其政治哲学的核心，具有普遍性、不可分割性等特征。但是在卢梭对“公意”概念的奠基背后，又内蕴逻辑悖论和实践困境。本文试图解释公意概念之中蕴含的“永远正确”和“可错性”、“普遍性”与“个体异质性”、“绝对主权”与公民自由三重结构悖论，这些悖论在政治实践中导致了公意被曲解或僭越为“众意”以及主权者虚化的问题。本文试图通过对卢梭公意理论的再审视，揭示其内在悖论与正当性危机。

Abstract

In his work The Social Contract, Rousseau introduced the concept of the “general will” as the core of his political philosophy, characterized by universality and indivisibility. However, underlying Rousseau's foundation of this concept lie inherent logical paradoxes and practical dilemmas. This paper seeks to elucidate the triple structural paradoxes inherent in the concept of the general will: the tension between “eternal correctness” and “fallibility,” the conflict between ‘universality’ and “individual heterogeneity,” and the contradiction between “absolute sovereignty” and “civil liberty.” These paradoxes have led to the distortion or usurpation of the general will into the “will of the majority” in political practice, as well as the problem of the erosion of sovereign authority. Through a reexamination of Rousseau's theory of the general will, this paper seeks to reveal its inherent paradoxes and crisis of legitimacy.