The natural determinacy of the two sexes acquires, through their rationality, an intellectual and ethical significance. |173| This significance is determined by the distinction into which ethical substantiality, as concept, divides itself within itself, in order to gain from it its vitality as a concrete unity.
Cid p. 30.
The secret is – of women’s
power over our men’s hearts,
This secret lies within them
deeply hidden, to God the Lord,
I believe, itself inscrutable. (That, now, precisely not.)
When on that great day,
which one day seeks out every fault,
God sifts the hearts of women,
He finds them either all
guilty, or equally innocent;
so intertwined is their heart.
Woman – child-nature appears as inconsistent, – whim, contingency – but with man, principles –
Man – strength – different within itself – self-will – and universality
§ 165: The two sexes
Man and woman differ by nature. This difference gains an intellectual and ethical meaning.
Why?
Ethical life is alive. Something living divides itself within itself. In this way it finds a richer unity. It is the same here. Ethical life divides into two sides. Together, both make up a living whole.
The next paragraph shows what these two sides look like.
Summary: The natural difference between the sexes has a spiritual meaning. Ethical life divides into two sides to become a living unity.
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