That the ethical is the system of these determinations of the Idea constitutes its rationality. In this way it is freedom, or the will that is in and for itself, as the objective, a circle of necessity whose moments are the ethical powers that govern the life of individuals, and which have, in these individuals as their accidents, their representation, appearing shape, and actuality.
Because the ethical determinations constitute the concept of freedom, they are the substantiality or the universal essence of individuals, who relate to them only as something accidental. Whether the individual exists or not is a matter of indifference to objective ethical life, which alone is what abides and is the power by which the life of individuals is governed. Ethical life has therefore been represented to peoples as eternal justice, as gods existing in and for themselves, against whom the vain bustle of individuals remains but a surging play.
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