The general will, in practical instead of semi-mystic terms, really means the welfare of the community as a whole; and when we enquire how that general will is to be known, we come, after much shuffling, upon the will of that majority in which Locke also put his trust.
Laski interprets Rousseau's concept of the general will as fundamentally aligned with Locke's trust in majority rule.
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More from Harold J. Laski
When attacks on liberty are political or economic, it is their motive rather than their nature that changes.
We grant toleration in one part of the field only to deny it in another.
The intolerance may be Catholic, when it insists that a unity of outlook is essential for the preservation of society; or it may be Protestant when, as with Calvin and the Socinians, it holds that the blasphemous nature of the belief…
He is able, accordingly, to indulge in the twofold luxury not only of preserving his own authority, but also of assisting the persons attacked to enter, if they so choose, the way of truth.
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