Legal Person and Morality

The passage on "legal person" explores the journey of self-consciousness within the ethical order and the broader cultural context. Initially, the individual self is seen as a legal person whose substance and fulfillment lie outside the ethical order. This self undergoes a process of estrangement and abstraction, moving through the world of culture and belief. As it reaches the extremity of abstraction, the self of spirit finds its substance transformed into the universal will, ultimately becoming its own possession.At this stage, knowledge appears to have fully aligned with the truth it seeks. The opposition between self-certainty and the object has disappeared, not just implicitly but explicitly for self-consciousness. Self-consciousness has mastered the opposition inherent in consciousness, where the object is now the certainty of self, or knowledge. This knowledge is no longer conditioned or determinate but is pure knowledge.Self-consciousness now regards its knowledge as the substance itself, which is both immediate and absolutely mediated in a unified manner. It is immediate in the sense that it knows and performs its duty as its own nature, similar to ethical consciousness. However, unlike ethical consciousness, which is a determinate type of spirit, self-consciousness is not limited to a specific ethical character. It is also absolute mediation, transcending immediate existence to become consciously universal without estranging itself or fleeing from reality.In this state, self-consciousness is directly present in its substance, which is its knowledge. This immediacy, purified by thoroughgoing negativity, becomes pure being, encompassing all actuality. Absolute essential Being is not just the essence of thought but all actuality, existing as knowledge. What consciousness does not know has no significance or power in its life. All objectivity and the entire world have withdrawn into its self-conscious knowing will. It is absolutely free because it knows its freedom, and this knowledge of freedom is its substance, purpose, and sole content.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-philosophy-channel--4573240/support."Dare to use your own reason" - Immanuel Kant