Britannica Sources used in this answer

Why did Jean-Jacques Rousseau believe people could be free by obeying laws?

Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau argued that individuals can achieve true political or republican liberty by obeying laws because, in a legitimate state, those laws are founded on the general will of the citizens.12

For Rousseau, freedom and authority are not contradictory when the laws are self-imposed by the people in their collective capacity as sovereign. Because the general will aims at the common good rather than the contradictory interests of individuals, an individual who obeys the law is, in effect, only obeying themselves as a member of the political community.12

Rousseau famously suggested that requiring an individual to abide by these laws is "forcing him to be free," which he interpreted not as an act of authoritarianism, but as a way to restore individuals to their own true interests when they are otherwise enslaved by their personal passions. By participating in the creation of laws that reflect the general will, citizens exchange their natural, solitary independence for a more secure and legitimate form of civil liberty.12