"All property or rather all substantial determinations, which relate to my personal individuality and which enter into the general constitution of my self-consciousness, as for example, my personality proper, my freedom of volition in general, my morality, my religion areinalienableand the right to them isimprescriptible."
"That that which the mind isper seand by its very definition should also become an actual existence andpro se, that consequently it should be a person, capable of holding property, possessed of morality and religion—all this is involvedin the idea of the mind itself, which as thecausa sui, in other words, as a free cause, is a substance,cujus natura non potest concipi nisi existens. (Spinoza, Eth. S. 1. def. 1.)."
"This very notion, that it should be what it isthrough itself aloneand as the self-concentration or endless self-retrosusception out of its mere natural and immediate existence contains also the possibility of the opposition between what it is onlyper se(i. e. substantially) and notpro se(i. e. subjectively, in reality) andvice versabetween what is onlypro seand not alsoper se(which in the Will is the bad, the vicious);—and hence too thepossibilityof thealienationof one's personality and of one's substantial existence, whether this alienation be effected implicitly and unconsciously or explicitly and expressly. Examples of the alienation of personality are slavery, vassalage, disability to hold property, the unfree possession of the same, &c., &c."
"Instances of the abalienation of intelligent rationality, of individual and social morality and of religion occur in the beliefs and practices of superstition, in ceding to another the power and the authority of making rules and prescriptions for my actions (as when one allows himself to be made a tool for criminal purposes), or of determining what I am to regard as the law and duty of conscience, religious truth, &c."
"The right to such inalienable possessions is imprescriptible,and the act by which I become seized of my personality and of my substantial being, by which I make myself an accountable, a moral and a religious agent, removes these determinations from the control of all merely external circumstances and relations, which alone could give them the capacity of becoming the property of another. With this abnegation of the external,all questions of time and all claims based upon previous consent or acquiescence fall to the ground. This act of rational self-recovery, whereby I constitute myself an existing idea, a person of legal and moralresponsibility,subverts the previous relation and puts an end to the injustice which I myself and the other party have done to my comprehension and to my reason,by treating and suffering to be treated the endless existence of self-consciousness as an external and an alienable object."[2]
[2]I emphasize this important clause for the particular benefit of those who in my personal history have had the absurd expectation that I should continue to entertain a respectful deference to a certain phase of religionism, which upon a careful and rational examination I found to be worthless and which is repugnant to my taste and better judgment, and of others who with equal absurdity are in the habit of exacting ecclesiastical tests (I will not say religious, for such men show by their very conduct that their enlightenment in matters of the religion of the heart is very imperfect) for academic appointments;—as if the science and the culture of the nineteenth century were still to be the handmaid of the church, as they were in the Middle Age;as if Philosophy and the Liberal Arts could ever thrive and flourish in the suffocating atmosphere of the idols of the cave,the idols of the tribe,and the idols of the market-place!
[2]I emphasize this important clause for the particular benefit of those who in my personal history have had the absurd expectation that I should continue to entertain a respectful deference to a certain phase of religionism, which upon a careful and rational examination I found to be worthless and which is repugnant to my taste and better judgment, and of others who with equal absurdity are in the habit of exacting ecclesiastical tests (I will not say religious, for such men show by their very conduct that their enlightenment in matters of the religion of the heart is very imperfect) for academic appointments;—as if the science and the culture of the nineteenth century were still to be the handmaid of the church, as they were in the Middle Age;as if Philosophy and the Liberal Arts could ever thrive and flourish in the suffocating atmosphere of the idols of the cave,the idols of the tribe,and the idols of the market-place!
[2]I emphasize this important clause for the particular benefit of those who in my personal history have had the absurd expectation that I should continue to entertain a respectful deference to a certain phase of religionism, which upon a careful and rational examination I found to be worthless and which is repugnant to my taste and better judgment, and of others who with equal absurdity are in the habit of exacting ecclesiastical tests (I will not say religious, for such men show by their very conduct that their enlightenment in matters of the religion of the heart is very imperfect) for academic appointments;—as if the science and the culture of the nineteenth century were still to be the handmaid of the church, as they were in the Middle Age;as if Philosophy and the Liberal Arts could ever thrive and flourish in the suffocating atmosphere of the idols of the cave,the idols of the tribe,and the idols of the market-place!
"This return to myself discloses also the contradiction (the absurdity) of my having ceded to another my legal responsibility, my morality and my religion at a time when I could not yet be said to possess them rationally, and which as soon as I become seized and possessed of them, can essentially be mine alone and can not be said to have any outward existence."
"It follows from the very nature of the case, that the slave has an absolute right to make himself free; that if any one has hired himself for any crime, such as robbery, murder, &c. this contract is of itself null and void and that every one is at full liberty to break it."
"The same may be said ofall religious submission to a priest,who sets up for my father confessor(step-father, &c.); for a matter of such purely internal interest must be settled by every man himself and alone. A religiosity, a part of which is deposited in the hands of another is tantamount to none at all; for the Spirit is one, and it is he that is required to dwell in the heart of man; the union of theperandpro semust belong to every individual apart."
TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES.Punctuation was not corrected except for the quotation mark on page 20, and the parenthesis on page 30, as cited below. Likewise, inconsistencies in hyphenation have not been corrected.On page 6, "necessaay" was replaced with "necessary".On page 8, "of" was inserted between "city" and "New York".On page 10, "the" was inserted before "City of".On page 12, "catastrophies" was replaced with "catastrophes", and "pretentions" was replaced with "pretensions".On page 15, "the the" was replaced with "the".On page 16, "ἄρχη ἣμσυ" was replaced with "ἀρχὴ ἥμισυ".On page 19, "destoyed" was replaced with "destroyed".On page 20, The quotation mark after "You are a dead man!" was moved to after "Dead, dead, dead, dead!", and an extra quotation mark was deleted after "certain popular preacher."On page 24, "aad" was replaced with "and".On page 27, "af" was replaced with "of".On page 30, "all this in involved" was replaced with "all this is involved", and an open parentheses was placed before "i. e. subjectively,".
Punctuation was not corrected except for the quotation mark on page 20, and the parenthesis on page 30, as cited below. Likewise, inconsistencies in hyphenation have not been corrected.
On page 6, "necessaay" was replaced with "necessary".
On page 8, "of" was inserted between "city" and "New York".
On page 10, "the" was inserted before "City of".
On page 12, "catastrophies" was replaced with "catastrophes", and "pretentions" was replaced with "pretensions".
On page 15, "the the" was replaced with "the".
On page 16, "ἄρχη ἣμσυ" was replaced with "ἀρχὴ ἥμισυ".
On page 19, "destoyed" was replaced with "destroyed".
On page 20, The quotation mark after "You are a dead man!" was moved to after "Dead, dead, dead, dead!", and an extra quotation mark was deleted after "certain popular preacher."
On page 24, "aad" was replaced with "and".
On page 27, "af" was replaced with "of".
On page 30, "all this in involved" was replaced with "all this is involved", and an open parentheses was placed before "i. e. subjectively,".