[lbo-talk] "Process without a Subject or Goal(s)"

[Ted Winslow]

The remainder of the sentence beginning "That is to say" somehow got 
deleted when I reformatted the passage.  Here is the last part again.

"That is to say, man is an object of existence in himself only in 
virtue of the Divine that is in him, — that which was designated at the 
outset as Reason; which, in view of its activity and power of 
self-determination, was called Freedom. And we affirm — without 
entering at present on the proof of the assertion -that Religion, 
Morality, &c. have their foundation and source in that principle, and 
so are essentially elevated above all alien necessity and chance. And 
here we must remark that individuals, to the extent of their freedom, 
are responsible for the depravation and enfeeblement of morals and 
religion. This is the seal of the absolute and sublime destiny of man — 
that be knows what is good and what is evil; that his destiny is his 
very ability to will either good or evil, — in one word, that he is the 
subject of moral imputation, imputation not only of evil, but of good; 
and not only concerning this or that particular matters and all that 
happens ab extrâ, but also the good and evil attaching to his 
individual freedom. The brute alone is simply innocent. It would, 
however demand an extensive explanation — as extensive as the analysis 
of moral freedom itself — to preclude or obviate all the 
misunderstandings which the statement that what is called innocent 
imports the entire unconsciousness of evil — is wont to occasion."