< prev
next>
164
THE EGO AND HIS OWN
his own want, a labor day by day."* In opposition
to this one might, for instance, consider the fact that
Gutenberg's labor did not remain individual, but be-
got innumerable children, and still lives to-day; it
was calculated for the want of humanity, and was an
eternal, imperishable labor.
The humane consciousness despises the commoner-
consciousness as well as the laborer-consciousness: for
the commoner is " indignant " only at vagabonds (at
all who have " no definite occupation ") and their
"immorality"; the laborer is "disgusted" by the
idler (" lazybones ") and his " immoral," because par-
asitic and unsocial, principles. To this the humane
liberal retorts : The unsettledness of many is only
your product, Philistine! But that you, proletarian,
demand the grind of all, and want to make drudgery
general, is a part, still clinging to you, of your pack-
mule life up to this time. Certainly you want to
lighten drudgery itself by all having to drudge equally
hard, yet only for this reason, that all may gain lei-
sure to an equal extent. But what are they to do
with their leisure? What does your " society " do,
that this leisure may be passed humanly ? It must
leave the gained leisure to egoistic preference again,
and the very gain that your society furthers falls to
the egoist, as the gain of the commonalty, the master-
lessness of man, could not be filled with a human ele-
ment by the State, and therefore was left to arbitrary
choice.
It is assuredly necessary that man be masterless: but
* Br. Bauer, " Lit. Ztg." V, 18.
MEN OF THE OLD TIME AND THE NEW 165
therefore the egoist is not to become master over man
again either, but man over the egoist. Man must as-
suredly find leisure : but, if the egoist makes use of it,
it will be lost for man; therefore you ought to have
given leisure a human significance. But you laborers
undertake even your labor from an egoistic impulse,
because you want to eat, drink, live; how should you
be less egoists in leisure? You labor only because
having your time to yourselves (idling) goes well after
work done, and what you are to while away your lei-
sure time with is left to chance.
But, if every door is to be bolted against egoism, it
would be necessary to strive after completely " disin-
terested " action, total disinterestedness. This alone
is human, because only Man is disinterested, the egoist
always interested.
If we let disinterestedness pass unchallenged for a
while, then we ask, do you mean not to take an inter-
est in anything, not to be enthusiastic for anything,
not for liberty, humanity, etc. ? " Oh, yes, but that
is not an egoistic interest, not interestedness, but a hu-
man, i. e. a--theoretical interest, to wit, an interest
not for an individual or individuals ('all '), but for
the idea, for Man ! "
And you do not notice that you too are enthusiastic
only for your idea, your idea of liberty?
And, further, do you not notice that your disinter-
estedness is again, like religious disinterestedness, a
heavenly interestedness? Certainly benefit to the in-
dividual leaves you cold, and abstractly you could
cry fiat libertas, pereat mundus. You do not take