ety agreed by consensus is best for everyone. This
involves a political process involving all citizens’ par-
ticipation. Through discussion, the particular interests
of individuals are expressed and weighed with others,
cancelled out, and the general will emerges. As
Rousseau wrote “... take away from these same [par-
ticular] wills the pluses and minuses that cancel one
another, and the general will remains as the sum of the
differences.” This presumes a social or community
sense beyond private, individual interest, which British
and American LIBERALISMdenies. Western INDIVIDUALISM
regards Rousseau’s general will as a progenitor of
TOTALITARIANISM, later emerging in the FASCIST“univer-
sal will.” See Giovanni GENTILE.
An earlier theological meaning of general will
(volonté générale) refers to the CHRISTIANnotion that
God wills all people to be saved through Jesus Christ.
St. AUGUSTINEholds that this original intent of God is
frustrated by Adam’s disobedience (Genesis) and
replaced by the Lord’s grace to the elect through Jesus
Christ.
Further Readings
Riley, P. The General Will before Rousseau: The Transformation of
the Divine into the Civic.Princeton, N.J.: Princeton Univer-
sity Press, 1986.
Shklar, J. N. “General will.” In Dictionary of the History of Ideas.
New York: Scribner, 1975.
———. Men and Citizens.Cambridge, Eng.: Cambridge Univer-
sity Press, 1969.
Wokler, R. The Influence of Diderot on Rousseau,1975.
Gentile, Giovanni (1875–1944) Italian fascist
philosopher
A professor of philosophy at the universities of Rome,
Pisa, and Palermo, Gentile served as minister of public
instruction in Mussolini’s FASCISTgovernment in the
1930s and edited the Encyclopedia Italiana.After Mus-
solini’s fall in 1944, Gentile was assassinated by Italian
COMMUNISTS.
Influenced by the DIALECTICALphilosophy of HEGEL,
Gentile developed his fascist theory of politics in the
book, Genesis and Structure of Society.In it, he divides
human nature into a particular will (of private desires,
INTERESTS, PROPERTY, etc.) and a universal will (of
nation, heritage, race, community within the individ-
ual). The individual comes to know himself by getting
in touch with the universal will within, which is
expressed through the STATEand LAW. Therefore, obedi-
ence to the state is the fulfillment of the INDIVIDUAL.
This explains how the state under fascism becomes so
powerful but claims to not oppress the individual or
his RIGHTS. In fact, personal rights, in Gentile’s theory,
are part of the particular will that must be subordi-
nated to the universal will. The private will and per-
sonal interests must be transcended by the community
will, which is expressed in state law, and the strong
political leader. Using the dialectic, Gentile insists that
AUTHORITY promotes FREEDOM, DICTATORSHIP is true
DEMOCRACY, and international military aggression is
peace.
Gentile argued that fascist unity serving the good of
the total or whole nation is more just than liberal (CAP-
ITALIST) democracy or MARXISTcommunism (because
each of those serve a certain group or class in society).
He justified military aggression by stating that the
dialectic divided the world into dominant peoples and
dominated peoples. If a weaker (nonfascist) country is
hindering the development of stronger (fascist) coun-
try, it is natural, dialectically, for the more powerful
nation to invade and conquer the less powerful nation.
The fascist state is “overcoming” the opposition of a
neighboring country that is “offending” it by not sub-
mitting to its will. The fascist state’s military destruc-
tion of other nations is justified as securing its rights.
Fascist Italy and NAZIGermany used this argument to
justify their military conquest of Ethiopia, France,
Poland, Russia, and other countries.
Gentile’s fascism favored the traditional family and
religion, but only as institutions that taught obedience
and self-sacrifice aiding the state. Both family and faith
are subordinated to the state, according to fascist the-
ory. Any loyalty to family or God that opposed the
government was to be suppressed. Consequently, the
state becomes the highest authority in Gentile’s fascist
theory. In fascist society, the state becomes a kind of
God, demanding absolute obedience and submission.
Any questioning or criticizing of the government is
considered treasonous and is punished by death. The
brutal dictatorships in Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy
followed from this fascist idea. The dialectical logic of
fascism, which combined opposites and synthesized
contradictions, made it difficult for Western democra-
cies using CLASSICAL(Aristotelian) reason and logic to
negotiate with fascist governments. Because standards
of logic, truth, and the meaning of words were not
shared by fascist and nonfascist countries, discussion
was difficult, resulting ultimately in war. So, among
other lessons, Gentile’s ideas show how a philosophi-Gentile, Giovanni 121