The Doctrine of Right, Duties and Religion for the Lower Class

[p. 266]

§ 54

The state comprehends society not only under relations of right, but, as a truly higher moral commonwealth, mediates unity in customs, culture and the general manner of thinking and acting (in that each intuits and knows in the other his universality in a spiritual manner).

§ 55

In the spirit of a people each individual citizen has his spiritual substance. The preservation of individuals is not only grounded on the preservation of this living whole, but the same constitutes the universal spiritual nature or the essence of each over against his individuality. The preservation of the whole therefore takes precedence over the preservation of the individual, and all should have this disposition.

§ 56

Considered merely from the side of right, insofar as the state protects the private rights of individuals and the individual first of all looks to what is his own, a sacrifice of a part of property towards the state is indeed possible, in order to preserve the remainder. But patriotism is not grounded on this calculation, but on the consciousness of the absoluteness of the state. This disposition to sacrifice property and life for the whole is the greater in a people, the more the individuals can act for the whole with their own will and self-activity, and the greater the trust they have in it. (Beautiful patriotism of the Greeks. – Difference of citizen as bourgeois and citoyen.)

§ 57

The disposition of obedience to the commands of the government, of attachment to the person of the prince and to the constitution, and the feeling of national honour are the virtues of the citizen of every orderly state.

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