From savage to citizen: the path followed by mankind toward the establishmente of the moral and collective body

Abstract

Based on Jean-Jaques Rousseau’s political and philosophical system, the goal of this article is to begin a possible genealogical understanding about the relation between common good and private good. Through a partial analysis of a theoretical and conceptual framework about human nature and of the model for popular sovereignty and for the structure of civil society proposed by the philosopher, this work will bring into discussion the relation between the general will, which always seeks the common good, and the private will, which in turn seeks only the private good. For Rousseau, knowing how to conform the private wills for the general will is a requirement by moral virtue and an indispensable necessity to sustain the social contract of a sovereign people.