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    Rousseau's distinction between the will of all and the ge... — Carmelics
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    Challenges→Democratic procedures have legitimate authority

    Rousseau's distinction between the will of all and the general will shows that aggregating individual preferences does not yield a genuinely authoritative collective will.

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    1 reason for
    1 reason against

    Reasons For

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    Reason for
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    • 1.Preference aggregation mechanically sums individual interests without considering the common good or public reason.
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    • 2.The general will requires moral transformation of citizens' motivations, not mere tallying of existing selfish desires.
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    • 3.Democratic procedures that only aggregate preferences lack normative authority independent of outcome legitimacy.
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    Reasons Against

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    Reason against
    ?
    • 1.Rousseau's distinction between will of all and general will is conceptually unclear and difficult to operationalize in practice.
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    • 2.Any actual determination of the general will must rely on aggregating some form of citizen input, making the distinction illusory.
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    • 3.Treating aggregated preferences as insufficiently authoritative invites rule by elites claiming special access to the common good.
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    Democracy & Governance1 linked

    Related

    Any actual determination of the general will must rely on aggregating some form ...Democratic procedures have legitimate authorityDemocratic procedures that only aggregate preferences lack normative authority i...Preference aggregation mechanically sums individual interests without considerin...
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    Rousseau's distinction between will of all and general will is conceptually uncl...The general will requires moral transformation of citizens' motivations, not mer...Treating aggregated preferences as insufficiently authoritative invites rule by ...

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    claim
    Perspectives
    2 (1 for, 1 against)
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    1 edit