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268

Political disposition, patriotism in general, as certainty grounded in truth (mere subjective certainty does not proceed from truth and is merely opinion) and as willing that has become habit, is only a result of the institutions subsisting within the state, in which rationality is actually present, just as this disposition acquires its practical activation through action in conformity with them. — This disposition is, in general, confidence (which may pass over into more or less cultivated insight) — the consciousness that my substantial and particular interest is preserved and contained in the interest and purpose of an other (here, the state) in its relation to me as an individual, whereby this other is, immediately, not another for me at all, and I am free in this consciousness.

Patriotism is frequently understood to mean only a disposition to extraordinary sacrifices and actions. But essentially it is the disposition which, in the ordinary condition and circumstances of life, is habituated to knowing the commonwealth as the substantial basis and purpose. It is this consciousness, proven in all relations in the ordinary course of life, from which the disposition to extraordinary exertion is itself derived. But just as human beings are often more inclined to be magnanimous than to be law-abiding, so they easily persuade themselves that they possess that extraordinary patriotism, in order to spare themselves this true disposition or to excuse its absence. — If, further, disposition is regarded as something that can make a beginning on its own and arise from subjective representations and thoughts, it is confused with mere opinion, since on this view it lacks its true ground, namely objective reality.

DE

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2 responses to “268”

  1. Eduard Gans (Additions) Avatar
    Eduard Gans (Additions)

    Uneducated people take pleasure in reasoning and finding fault, for finding fault is easy, but knowing the good and its inner necessity is difficult. Incipient culture always begins with fault-finding, but a fully developed culture sees the positive in everything. In religion it is just as quickly said that this or that is superstition, but it is infinitely harder to grasp the truth contained in it. The political sentiment that appears on the surface must therefore be distinguished from what people truly want, for inwardly they really want the thing itself, but they cling to particulars and indulge in the vanity of wanting to know better. People have the confidence that the state must exist and that only within it can particular interest come to fruition, but habit renders invisible that on which our whole existence rests. If someone walks safely through the streets at night, it does not occur to him that this could be otherwise, for this habit of security has become second nature, and one does not really reflect on how this is, in the first place, the effect of particular institutions. Popular opinion often supposes that the state is held together by force; but what actually holds it together is solely the underlying feeling of order that everyone has.

  2. Karl Marx Avatar
    Karl Marx

    § 268 contains a fine exposition of political sentiment, of patriotism, which has nothing in common with the logical development, except that Hegel determines it »merely« as the »result of the institutions subsisting in the state, in which rationality is actually present«, whereas conversely these institutions are just as much an objectification of political sentiment. Cf. the Remark to this paragraph.

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