Il Legislatore nel "Contrat social"

A controversial issue of Rousseau’s philosophy is the relationship between the people as a whole, who want the good although they may not see it, and individuals, who see the good but may not want it. This predicament ought to be solved by the Legislator, whose characteristics seem however in tension with the theory propounded in the first book of the Contrat Social. The aim of this paper is to contribute to the current debate by exploring three possible functions of this key figure: 1. Devise the content of the constitutional law 2. Make the people aware of their being the sovereign, by bringing to light the underlining rules of the social contract 3. Mediate between the political and the socio-economic sphere, i.e. between the sovereign’s effort to bring about the general will and the individuals’ effort to advance their particular interest. This latter hypothesis, being structurally different to the first two, need not be seen in contrast with either of them.