Freedom as Mark of the Species

“Freedom as a species identifier – this is to be understood as a mark of prestige. It is the distinguishing character of the chieftain, and belongs to the dignity which the few carry for the many, for all. Just as the few carry sexuality for all in mound-building insects, so the few have freedom for the many in the human category. Socrates was not free for himself alone; his freedom functioned for the many, and still functions today.

Man as a species moves within the invisible mass of the iceberg, determined and instinctive; in this context of determination, intelligence, even in its sharpest expressions, can also be counted as an instinct. Dostoevsky, to bring this paradox to expression, chose the “Idiot”, a portrait of the higher type of person. Intelligence cannot create freedom, which inhabits deeper and higher strata; it can however build up its arsenal.The

Spiritual freedom distinguishes the human species. It is found there alone. Political being and state-building, by contrast, are not reserved for man alone. Man lived long without states and will perhaps be capable thereof again. The state-building capacity was given to man at a certain point in his development as a formative principle, as happened with other species.

Once connected with life, the formative principles are repeated. They float as microbes, as possibilities in life’s undifferentiated stream. This explains the constantly repeated attempts at state-building in the coelenterates, all the way up from the primeval animals. Freedom in the spiritual sense first entered into the stream of life with man. From that point on freedom cannot be lost. In this respect one can concur with Hegel.

The preservation of freedom, on the other hand, is man’s task. Since freedom distinguishes the human more distinctly than state-building, it must take precedence over the preservation of the state. Therefore, the state cannot guarantee freedom, only man himself can. This does not exclude the possibility that he might need the state for this goal.”