Jena Philosophy of Spirit

[p. 257]

|257| universal will has to gather itself together into this One. – It has first to constitute itself out of the will of the singulars as universal, so that the latter seems the principle and element, but conversely it is the first and the essence, and the singulars have to make themselves into the universal through negation of themselves, externalization and culture,¹³⁶⁾ it is earlier than they, it is absolutely there for them, they are not at all immediately the same. – One imagines the constituting of the universal will thus, that all citizens come together,¹³⁷⁾ deliberate, give their votes, and so the majority makes the universal will – In this way precisely that is posited which was said, that the singular must make [himself] into it through negation, through giving himself up. – The commonwealth, the union of the state, is supposed to rest on an original contract to which each is presumed to have tacitly given his consent, – but properly expressly – and this determinately for every subsequent act of the commonwealth – And this is supposed to be the principle of the true, of the free state. – The multitude is imagined thus, more actually, as constituting the commonwealth, – be it from the beginning, that this is not yet there, or perhaps that a revolution has dissolved the previous constitution. Here they emerge as actual singulars, each of whom wants to know his positive will in the universal; but their positive singularity, because it is not yet an externalized one, or does not have negativity in itself, is a contingency for the universal, and this an actual other than they; there is no necessity that all will the same, no obligation that the minority submit to the majority, but each has the right, – for he is posited, recognised, as singular positive will, – to run away; and to come to an agreement with others about something else. – But it is at the same time presupposed that they are in themselves universal will; this

136) In the margin: Aristotle – the whole is [by] nature prior to the parts

137) In the margin: What is to come to be is presupposed, – for the sake of universality they unite – purpose – They willed it because it is in itself. Syllogism as in the concept of the will

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