User:Gracedellorto/sandbox

Article evaluation: I chose to evaluate an article on Rousseau's theory of "The general will." The article appears to include information that is relevant to the topic. It also has sections that describe both criticism and defense of Rousseau, so it is not biased. When discussing the general will, it is more important to note what the general will isn't rather than what it is. The concept of the general will is generally easy to understand: it represents what is best for the people. However, there is an important distinction that Rousseau makes. The article does mention this distinction, but fails to cite a portion of Rousseau's text that explains this specifically. It would be beneficial to include an anecdote from Rousseau's The Social Contract and Discourses in 1761. Rousseau writes, "There is often a great deal of difference between the will of all and the general will; the latter considers only the common interest, while the former takes private interest into account, and is no more than a sum of particular wills: but take away from these same wills the pluses and minuses that cancel one another, and the general will remains as the sum of the differences." This quote highlights specifically the difference between private interest versus public interest that Rousseau emphasizes. Additionally, I believe that the implications of the general will could be expanded upon in this article. The concept of the general will coincides with the concept of freedom. Although the imposition of the general will would restrict personal freedoms, all people who are subject to the general will have the freedom to act as they please underneath this will. This paradox of freedom that Rousseau emphasizes should be more prevalent in the article. I notice that there is not much debate or conversation on the talk page. That is because there is minimal amount of content to even be discussed about on this page. Most of the article is quoted material from Rousseau or related works without much interpretation or explanation. I think that the main way that this article could be improved is by adding more content, more than just definitions, to describe the general will more in depth.