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48

The body, insofar as it is immediate existence, is not adequate to spirit; in order to be spirit’s willing organ and animated instrument, it must first be taken into possession by spirit (§ 57). – But for others I am essentially a free being in my body, as I immediately have it.

Only because I am alive as a free being in my body may this living existence not be misused as a beast of burden. Insofar as I live, my soul (the concept and, at a higher level, the free) and my body are not separated; the body is the existence of freedom, and I feel in it. It is therefore only an ideaeless, sophistical understanding that can make the distinction that the thing in itself, the soul, is not touched or attacked when the body is maltreated and the existence of the person is subjected to another’s violence. I can withdraw from my existence into myself and make it something external – hold particular sensation away from myself and be free even in chains. But this is my will; for the other, I am in my body; that to be free for the other is possible only as being free in existence is an identical proposition (see my Science of Logic, vol. I, p. 49 ff.) 1. |54| Violence done to my body by others is violence done to me.
That, because I feel, the touching of and violence against my body touch me immediately as something actual and present, constitutes the difference between personal injury and the violation of my external property , in which my will is not in this immediate presence and actuality.

  1. Science of Logic, vol. I: The Objective Logic (1812), pp. 49 ff. = GW 11, 60 ff.: “Being-other” – “Being-for-other and being-in-itself” – “Reality” · revision of 1832 ↩︎

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Comments

2 responses to “48”

  1. Hegel (Notes) Avatar
    Hegel (Notes)

    In § 48 concrete possession; – but here personal possession in general.
    β) in relation to others –
    A particular kind of property. Existence of my personality
    Honor – property of representation – also external – since opinion, representation of others (belongs to representation)
    This I will to be in the representation of others – to fill with my arbitrary will
    That which, as what I show myself to others, I will to be for them – even if entirely my own caprice
    These others, a circle of my equals, for whom this is something that I will to be – and even if it is only this, that I will to be something, such a one as has honor –
    I cannot commit myself here to an objective content, for this is not something purely personal.
    This falls to their judgment, is the free, true honor –

  2. Hegel (Simple) Avatar
    Hegel (Simple)

    § 48: Whoever injures my body injures me

    My body is mine. But it does not obey me by itself. Only through practice does it become a tool that follows me willingly. More on this later.

    For others something else holds. For them I am free in my body, just as it is right now. It does not first need training.

    What follows from this?

    I live in this body as a free human being. That is why no one may use it like a beast of burden. As long as I live, soul and body are not separate. I feel in my body. My freedom is there in my body.

    A false comfort:

    Some say: You can torment the body, but the soul stays untouched. That is a trick of the understanding, which does not grasp the matter. It is true that I can withdraw into myself. I can keep pain away from me and stay free inside, even in chains. But that is my affair, my will. For others, I am in my body. Whoever does violence to my body does violence to me.

    An important difference:

    If someone damages my car, he hits my property. If he strikes me, he hits me myself, here and now. For I feel in my body. That is why an attack on the body is something other than damage to a thing.

    Summary: My body is the existence of my freedom. Whoever injures it injures me. The excuse that the soul stays untouched does not hold.

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