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    Rousseau explicitly argues in Book II that citizens must ... — Carmelics
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    Challenges→On the procedural account, citizens do not need any specifically moral qualities for the general will to emerge.

    Rousseau explicitly argues in Book II that citizens must be capable of distinguishing the general will from the will of all, requiring civic virtue.

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    Reasons For

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    • 1.Rousseau explicitly contrasts 'general will' and 'will of all' in Social Contract II, establishing this distinction as central to his theory.
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    • 2.Without civic virtue enabling citizens to transcend private interests, the general will collapses into aggregated self-interest, defeating Rousseau's entire project.
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    • 3.Rousseau's emphasis on moral transformation through the social contract presupposes citizens must develop capacities to distinguish common good from personal preference.
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    Reasons Against

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    • 1.Rousseau never clearly defines what makes a will 'general' versus aggregate, making the distinction arguably incoherent rather than requiring virtue to perceive it.
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    • 2.Demanding civic virtue as a prerequisite undermines Rousseau's egalitarian claims, since virtue develops unequally and excludes the less virtuous from political participation.
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    • 3.The empirical claim that citizens can reliably distinguish these wills through virtue training lacks evidence; Rousseau provides no mechanism explaining how this occurs.
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    Related

    Demanding civic virtue as a prerequisite undermines Rousseau's egalitarian claim...On the procedural account, citizens do not need any specifically moral qualities...Rousseau explicitly contrasts 'general will' and 'will of all' in Social Contrac...Rousseau never clearly defines what makes a will 'general' versus aggregate, mak...
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    Rousseau's emphasis on moral transformation through the social contract presuppo...The empirical claim that citizens can reliably distinguish these wills through v...Without civic virtue enabling citizens to transcend private interests, the gener...

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