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Man is to man the supreme being, says Feuerbach.
Man has just been discovered, says Bruno Bauer
Then let us take a more careful look at this supreme being and
this new discovery.
I
A HUMAN LIFE
From the moment when he catches sight of the light
of the world a man seeks to find out himself and get
hold of himself out of its confusion, in which he, with
everything else, is tossed about in motley mixture.
But everything that comes in contact with the child
defends itself in turn against his attacks, and asserts
its own persistence.
Accordingly, because each thing cares for itself
and at the same time comes into constant collision
with other things, the combat of self-assertion is un-
avoidable.
Victory or defeat--between the two alternatives the
fate of the combat wavers. The victor becomes the
lord, the vanquished one the subject: the former exer-
cises supremacy and " rights of supremacy," the latter
fulfils in awe and deference the " duties of a subject."
But both remain enemies, and always lie in wait:
they watch for each other's weaknesses--children for
those of their parents and parents for those of their
children (e. g. their fear); either the stick conquers
the man, or the man conquers the stick.
In childhood liberation takes the direction of trying
to get to the bottom of things, to get at what is " back