GUIDE TO THE PHILOSOPHY 1938 - 1947.pdf - Rare Books at ...

6OO POLITICS
is, indeed, in the omnipotence of the State in time of war
that the theory finds its logical development. "The state of
war", writes Hegel, "shows the omnipotence ofthe State in
its individuality; country and fatherland are then the power
which convicts of nullity the independence .ofindividuals."
(6) That The State has no Moral Obligations
lo Other States
The exemption of the State from morality in regard to
its dealings with other States is no less strongly emphasized.
I have already referred to the fact that the idealist theory
of the State is developed without reference to the existence
of other States. The State being regarded as that
which comprises and gathers up within itself all the
separate moralities of all its individual citizens, and no
entity outside the State being recognized, it fallows that
there is nobody and nothing to whom or which the State
stands in moral relations. It cannot, then, stand in moral
relations to other States.
It is saddening to reflect with what frequency this
apparently shocking conclusion has been justified by
philosophers and voiced ^by statesmen. "When the safety
of the country is at stake," Machiavelli wrote, "na con-
sideration of justice or injustice, of honour and dishonour
can find a place. Every scruple must be set aside." "What
scoundrels we should be," said Cavour, "if we did for
ourselves what we are doing for Italy." Fkhte's celebrated
* '
Preserve peace that you may begin war with an advantage
in your favour' 9
is a characteristic expression of the same
attitude, nor is it clear that the sentiment enshrined in
the Englishman's " My country right or wrong" is in essence
different, although it is rather the exemption
of the
individual member of a State from moral obligations to
the citizens of other States, than the exemption of the
State itself that is hare asserted.
"^The doctrine of the emancipation of the Stale from the
requirements of Jborality in respect of its dealings with
other States is widely practised Unlay. That it has inspired