Dagger on Rousseau

Dagger believes that Rousseau is a great example of Republican-Liberalism because of his use of the social contract to defend civic virtue rather than the typical argument to show individual rights. His argument is that Rousseau clearly shows civic virtue in his concept of the general will which we have as being a citizen which is apart of a collective rather than our personal will which we have because we are individuals but while doing this still allows for personal freedom as well. Rousseau's depiction of individual rights comes as moral freedom and civic freedom. Dagger claims that these hold that a citizen is only responsible to herself in this society but it is the self that is a citizen and not the self in nature. The self in nature has been given up in order to pursue the self that is a citizen and the freedoms that go along with it. However, to have these freedoms as a citizen one must pursue the general will rather than the personal will in order for the rest of society to benefit as well. So autonomy comes from being subject only to the one's self and able to live how they choose provided it does not violate their role as a citizen (which where they get their freedoms from) that is subject to the general will.