Between utopia and anti-utopia: Critique of Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s doctrine in the light of the controversy surrounding his views on the essence of general will

Abstract

The article is devoted to the controversy related to the interpretation of key concepts in the doctrine of one from among the most important thinkers of the eighteenth-century Europe — Jean-Jacques Rousseau. The considerations are carried out on many levels, focusing on the key concept of volonté générale in the treatise Du Contrat social ou principes de droit politique. The applied method, exegesis of the source text, corresponds with the polemic that has been conducted for decades, creating a rich literature on the subject. Selecting the positions of many distinguished researchers, the author attempts to confront Rousseau’s views with the flagship triad of basic values of the Great French Revolution: freedom, equality, and fraternity. This allowed the formulation of numerous comments, assessments, and opinions, at least some of which could be considered polemical or directly controversial.