Right is something sacred. Why? Because in right, freedom that knows itself exists. There is nothing higher in the world of spirit.

But there is not just one right. Freedom unfolds in stages. Each stage is a shape of freedom. That is why each stage has its own right.

What are these stages?

First comes the right of the single person, for example the right to property. Then comes the right of conscience. Then the right of the family and of the state. When people set right and morality against each other, they mean by “right” only the first, thinnest stage. But morality is a right too. The welfare of the state is also a right.

What happens when rights collide?

An example: My plot of land belongs to me. Now a dike must go up, or else the whole village will drown. Then the right of the community comes first.

Rights can only collide because both really are rights. If one of them were no right at all, there would be no conflict. But the conflict also shows: Every right has its limit. The poorer right must give way to the richer one. The richer stage is the one in which more of freedom has become real.

Only one right has no limit at all: the right of the world spirit. That is the course of history itself.

Summary: Each stage of freedom has its own right. The higher stage has the higher right, because it contains more freedom. Only the right of world history has no limits.