“The law commands that the other person shall treat me as a rational being. He does not do so; and the law now absolves mc from all obligation to treat him as a rational being. But by that very absolving it makes itself valid. For the law, in saying that it depends now altogether upon my free-will how I desire to treat the other, or that I have a compulsory right against him, says, virtually, that the other person can not prevent my compulsion; that is, can not prevent it through the mere principle of law, though he may prevent it through physical strength, or through an appeal to morality, (may induce me to forego my compelling him, or prevent me from compelling him by superior strength.)If an absolute community is to be established between persons, as such, each member thereof must assume the above law; for only by constantly treating each other as free beings can they remain free beings or persons. Moreover, since it is possible for each member to treat the other as not a free being, but as a mere thing, it is also conceivable that each member may form the resolve, never to treat the others as mere things, but always as free beings; and since for such a resolve no other ground is discoverable than that such a community of free beings ought to exist, it is also conceivable that each member should have formed that resolve from this ground and upon this presupposition.”

— Johann Gottlieb Fichte

Source: The Science of Rights 1796, P. 132

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "The law commands that the other person shall treat me as a rational being. He does not do so; and the law now absolves …" by Johann Gottlieb Fichte?

Johann Gottlieb Fichte 102

German philosopher 1762–1814

Related quotes

“When I treat a man contemptuously, I can inspire him with no practical desire to appreciate my grounds of truth. When I treat any one as worthless, I can inspire him with no desire to do right.”

Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) German philosopher

Part III : Selection on Education from Kant's other Writings, Ch. I Pedagogical Fragments, # 15
The Educational Theory of Immanuel Kant (1904)
Context: The more one presupposes that his own power will suffice him to realize what he desires the more practical is that desire. When I treat a man contemptuously, I can inspire him with no practical desire to appreciate my grounds of truth. When I treat any one as worthless, I can inspire him with no desire to do right.

“Liberty is as much a matter of compulsion as duty, but where duty says to a person that he must or must not, liberty says to other persons that they must not interfere with that person, or that they even must help to prevent still other persons from interfering, if necessary.”

John R. Commons (1862–1945) United States institutional economist and labor historian

Source: Legal foundations of capitalism. 1924, p. 95

“If God should descend to earth and come to live among us, we could not love him unless he became like us or give him anything unless he produced something or listen to him unless he proved us mistaken or worship him unless he manifested his power. All the laws of our nature, affective, economic, and intellectual, would prevent us from treating him as we treat other men, that is, according to reason, justice, and equity. From this I infer that if God ever put himself into immediate communication with man, he would have to become a man.”

Pierre Joseph Proudhon (1809–1865) French politician, mutualist philosopher, economist, and socialist

Source: What is Property? (1840), Ch. V

“When you treat a rational autonomous creature as though he’s a mere beast, what does that make you?”

Robert Silverberg book Downward to the Earth

Source: Downward to the Earth (1970), Chapter 7 (p. 231)

“I think the president has to be treated like everyone else. 'Cause I think under the criminal law everybody should be treated the same. I know there are people who would say that the president should be treated stricter. We used to have an era in which the president was treated much more leniently. But I think the right answer is: the president should be treated the same; as far as the criminal law is concerned the president is a citizen.”

Rudy Giuliani (1944–2001) American businessperson and politician, former mayor of New York City

when interviewed by Charlie Rose, July 1998 video of the entire interview https://charlierose.com/videos/17662

“Treating a being as an end in itself means respecting the value of what makes it such an end. After we see that this value resides in rational nature, we see it implies that, at least in general, rational beings should not be subjected to deception or coercion. Instead, we should seek to harmonize our strivings with those of other rational beings toward their ends.”

Allen W. Wood (1942) academic

Kantian Ethics (2008)

“Man, considered as a creature, must necessarily be subject to the laws of his creator, for he is entirely a dependent being…This law of nature, being co-eval with mankind and dictated by God himself, is of course superior in obligation to any other. It is binding over all the globe, in all countries, and at all times: no human laws are of any validity, if contrary to this; and such of them as are valid derive all their force, and all their authority, mediately or immediately, from this original.”

William Blackstone book Commentaries on the Laws of England

Introduction, Section II: Of the Nature of Laws in General
Commentaries on the Laws of England (1765–1769)

“No Gandhiji…. I could not treat all patients free. I came to Bombay not to treat Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi but to treat ‘him’, who, to me represents the four hundred million people of my country.”

Bidhan Chandra Roy (1882–1962) Former Chief Minister of West Bengal, India

This was in reply to to Gandhiji’s refusal to take medicine as it was not made in India in page=94
Remembering Our Leaders: Mahadeo Govind Ranade by Pravina Bhim Sain

“If the King can do no wrong, it is akin to looking down upon him, because the King is not being treated as a human being. The King can do wrong.”

Bhumibol Adulyadej (1927–2016) King of Thailand

Source: As quoted in 2005, "Thailand’s King Bhumibol Adulyadej: One of the world’s longest-reigning monarchs" in CNN https://www.cnn.com/2016/10/13/asia/thai-king-bhumibol-adulyadej-obituary/index.html (14 October 2016)

“In my early professional years I was asking the question: How can I treat, or cure, or change this person? Now I would phrase the question in this way: How can I provide a relationship which this person may use for his own personal growth?”

Carl R. Rogers (1902–1987) American psychologist

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Johann Gottlieb Fichte 102

Related quotes

Related topics