Edith Stein on the State
1
Edith Stein sobre el Estado
An Inquiry concerning the State (Eine Untersuchung über den Staat) is the last of four
and appeared in the phenomenological journal Jahrbuch für Philosophie und phänomenolo-
gische Forschung
Her analyses are not only important theoretically; they also cast
light on the political movements of her time (Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf was published in
the same year) and indeed are quite relevant to the social turmoil and ideological contro-
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Keywords:
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apareció en la revista fenomenológica Jahrbuch für Philosophie und phänomenologische
luz sobre los movimientos políticos de su tiempo (Mein Kampf de Adolf Hitler se publicó
en el mismo año) y, de hecho, son bastante relevantes para la agitación social y las con-
Palabras clave:
1
1. Early philosophical writings
Eine Untersuchung über den Staat
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2
and two “Contribu-
tions to the Philosophical Foundation of Psychology and the Humanities”, on
“Psychological Causality” and
“Individual and Community”, which accom-
3
Her monograph on the state was published in the phenomenological journal
Jahrbuch für Philosophie und phänomenologische Forschung
and althou-
quoting her words and adding here and there some observations suggested
2. Life and philosophy
spend a year in Hamburg with her sister and brother-in-law, and by the time
she returned home she had “deliberately and consciously” abandoned her
majored in psychology for four semesters and also pursued German studies
2
Zum Problem der Einfühlung
3
Psychische Kausalität and Individuum und Gemeinschaft in Beiträge zur philosophische Begründung
del Psychologie und der Geisteswissenschaften, Jahrbuch
Eine Untersuchung über den
Staat
An Investigation concerning the State
Beiträge
Edith Stein on the state
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ted with the Philosophical Investigations of philosopher Edmund Husserl of the
His phenomenological method of exploring “things themsel-
ves” rather than the “subject” promised her Sachlichkeit
Percep-
tion “again appeared as reception” to her, “deriving laws from objects”, not
After
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doctorate there summa cum laude
At this
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However, despite
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serl’s Ideas
went into a philosophical and personal crisis that found a spiritual resolu-
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put it down, “is the truth”, and soon afterwards requested
From
Logische Untersuchungen/Prolegomena zur reinen Logik
litur-
gyphilosophy and
theology
spirituality
Quaestiones disputatae de veritate and Cardinal New-
Potenz und Akt, a phenomeno-
From
Jews from teaching, and in the following year in Cologne she entered the
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Finite and Eternal Being, was about to
appear, but the printing was stopped after Nazi law barred Jews from publi-
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A change
And what is more, the organon that
serene “respondeo dicendum
Des heiligen Thomas von Aquino/“Untersuchungen über die Wahrheit” in deutscher Übertragung,
J. H. Kardinal Newman/Briefe und Tagebücher
bis zum Übertri zur Kirche, 1801-1845Potenz und Akt/Studien
zu einer Philosophie des SeinsHabilitationsschrift for the University of Frei-
Endliches und ewiges Sein/Versuch eines Aufstiegs zum Sinn des Seins-
Kreuzeswissenschaft/Studie über Joannes a Cruce,
Edith Stein on the state
on my “disciple” and gives him the ability to answer questions in my spirit
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3. The state
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litics and held “a nearly conservative view of the state” but without any Prus-
Perhaps she meant
her treatise on the state, which she was writing after World War I and during
the upheavals of the Weimar Republic, to be a contribution –if highly theore-
When war was declared she
told herself “I have no more private life”, and if she did not get into nursing,
Her friends were
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10
Her general approach incorporates the familiar
phenomenological distinction between eidetics and empirics, between neces-
sity and fact: between what belongs “in principle” to the “ontic” notion of
something, to its a-priori essence, and what belongs to a something “in fact”,
An example of this procedure is
“Husserl and Aquinas: A Comparison”, Knowledge and Faith-
Erkenntnis und Glaube
Edith Stein/Life in a Jewish Family, 1891-1916
10
Life in a Jewish Family
abstrahentium non est mendacium: focu-
sing on one side of a distinction ignores the other for the moment but does
When she says that ethics and religion lie outside the essence of
It is
abstract: she deliberate-
ly excludes reference to actual circumstances, although she not infrequently
4. State and Community
Indeed, that it subjects live in the state and carry out quite
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ther
Masse), community
(Gemeinschaft), and society (Gesellschaft
“Masses” implies the barest “being
together” (Zusammensein) without any sense of belonging, without “spirit”
or “mind” (Geist
another” (miteinander
Communities “arise”
by themselves, but societies are deliberately “founded” as rational recastings
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Völk-
er
way: “the state is a social entity into which free persons are integrated in such
wise that one or a majority rule over the others (or all rule) in the name of the
entire entity”
Edith Stein on the state
5. Sovereignty
autar-
chy in Aristotle, is essentially
must be its
own master; no outside power, be it an individual or a community above, below, or to
the side, may dictate how its life is to be led”
Without sovereignty we may have a social entity [Gemeinwesen], but not a
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If states, in the sense of
the United
Nations, or the European Union can dictate to any of its members, these bo-
Power, then, belongs to
the essence of the state, but how power is wielded does not; it is “factual”, for
example, whether it is monarchy, aristocracy, or democracy, whether there
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Only a structure of free persons can declare itself sovereign or show itself to
“Unrestricted state power”, precisely in its essence, lasts only as
existing community and passes laws that parallel relations in the community,
We call a person free
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dom of the individual citizen and the sovereignty –that is, the freedom– of the
6. People and nation
A people (Volk), given this equivalence of statehood and sovereignty, does
national
A state may indeed embrace more than one people and the
essence of the state only requires a domain of citizens regardless of how its
A people, as any community, has an ongoing life which touches all its
mark (Volkscharakter),
an “ethnicity”, a personality (“Persönlichkeit
A community may claim to be a people only if its very own culture springs from
geistig] goods
Every cultu-
re has a spiritual center that has brought forth these goods: a creative commu-
nity whose soul (seelisch
share the same culture and within a culture an extended family or a social
essential only for a people;
between two cultures can destabilize a state is the irredenta situation where a
reciprocity here: a people needs a state for protection,
and a state needs the
creative power of a people to give it content and direction and legitimize
re-
exively
When a people matures it becomes
Edith Stein on the state
When all
three are present there is an interplay, but the people’s development may be
As sovereignty is
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ple cannot sustain unlimited population growth; on the other hand a people
needs a critical mass in order to function, since a cultural cosmos must rely
7. Politicians and citizens
For other citizens it is enough to do their duty to the state; they do not
people, demanding of its subjects only “loyalty”, but such a state is a hollow
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Any state drawing individuals into its sphere (whether they serve volunta-
unheimlich
soulless and has no productivity that would issue from a soul; that is why it
seems odd, and in a certain sense unseemly, be it necessary for its existence,
Individuals are its bearers,
but it nourishes their souls (from the state they only get external services which
sensible for a person to love his people, and only derivatively to love his state
On the other hand, a state without a people may have value; it may
watch over the development of its members and their communities– and
8. Law
Referring in this context to
essentially of pure law-
For example, “promises when
Or by “law”
we may mean positive law
Positive law requires a law-
(Rechtright; for exam-
Sachverhalte) –in this case
Rechtsverhalte)—is perhaps a point of agreement be-
Moreover,
her concept of the a-priori structure of law grounds a strong anti-relativistic
For the validity of pure legal states does not depend on their being
indeed, a gap between pure and positive law:
In fact, however, the provisions of positive law are by and
large independent of any theoretical basis; they owe their content not to in-
Recognizing
it means subjecting oneself to it or to the lawgiver’s will
An example is a legislator who passes laws to privilege a certain social
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On the other hand, while the
Edith Stein on the state
state may regulate commerce, doing business lies outside the notion of
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On
the other hand, when the economy is so complex to be beyond centralization,
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Rights,
Not only do citizens have
rights and duties, but politicians are responsible for the rights of their consti-
Crime
a moral right–, but rebelling against a lawless state to insure lawfulness is not
Historically this sort of action has led
9. International law
be a “law of nations”, that is international law, the jus gentium
may be right because it accords with positive law yet wrong for contravening
If
the “law” of nations is but convention, how
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veral countries may issue a directive binding their governments– but in this
Or else the body gets
its mandate from the individual states– but how can representatives of one
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resolved
upon by the international body but enacted
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10. State, morality, and God
rules, governs, it acts only to maintain the
It may not command anything endangering this rela-
tion, such as policies that arouse the indignation of citizens, lay harsh demands
It may, but need
not, perform other actions, for example foster nationhood, promote the welfare
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Policy lying outside the purview of the state will get its spi-
God can use states to bring about His
ends in several ways: either the state, by simply doing what it must to exist,
automatically advances His cause, or its representatives may enforce His
Edith Stein on the state
11. Fact and theory
how fact relates to the essence of the state: the rise and fall of states, factors of
Verband), not states, are deliberately created
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not spiritual–; it is
A social entity in our
view gains statehood by acquiring sovereignty– I mean, the freedom to create
its own institutions and perform all its acts of its own accord
It can proscribe the public profes-
It may
allow groups to govern themselves, but in this case it is limiting itself, not
here not only of nomads who wander a range unclaimed by other states, but
also a state whose citizens are pure spirits –she may mean angels here– not
Contract
theory contributed to the development of the constitutional state and natural
law theory to the awareness of human and civil rights and to the demand
We are reminded of the collapse of communism, but also,
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example of supposed individual rights, which may be genuine or bogus: the
It cuts both ways: it is des-
tructive to use theory to conserve a system whose basis ought to be changed
and
It is especially alarming, she says, when rival theories are out to fashion
With her cus-
ratio rooted in the
Any order of law that contravenes this ratio instead of
heeding it should realize that reality stands against it and it will play out with
12. Value
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In this, the second and much shorter, part of her
Berechtigung), meaning “desi-
What is essentially of value is the
of the spirit” (spiritual goods are more easily produced in a state), or justi-
ce (the state passes just laws), since the state does not entail these advanta-
Nor does community value necessarily accrue to any particular state;
however this will be the case if the state’s legislation provides indispensable
A people, not the state, creates
Moral values, “right” and “wrong”, are personal: they are predicates of
For example, helping
A moral norm or
a priori -
acts produce no objective states (Rechts-Gegenständlichkeiten
of such consequences of legal acts as a claim brought about by a promise, the
demand for punishment following a crime, and ownership resulting from
relevant – the point whence he lives his life: the qualities of his soul, his con-
Edith Stein on the state
Standort)” from which we live our life continued
Kreuzeswissenschaft
Positive law also has a ethical analogue: a particular moral belief-sys-
Of course moral views cannot be “passed” as positive laws can; they rather
if provisions of positive law clash with prevailing morals, they may alter the
intend to set this change in motion, whereas
a duty to encourage this course
“Factually”, that is, non-essentially, she says in spite of the reservations
she has voiced, the state may, through its laws, educate citizens and even
other powers in morality, and she adds, seemingly referring to divine provi-
dence:
“Perhaps the “world plan” uses [the state] to reach this goal; but its
Care, then, is called for; moral change is sometimes desirable but some-
opinion, and, again in our own country, of activists who feel duty-bound to
moral motivation of its citizens, for if it does not they may refuse to recognize
In a footnote she gives
a rule for the practical politics of parties that would turn the state into a “moral
people, not a state
without such a basis trimming the sta-
te to match moral principles is absurd as well as inimical to the state
Value-con-
If a state had but its own value
Force
In it often hard to decide what its right, but
it is an indication that the decision of at least one of them was wrong
13. Guilt
“Guilt” or “blame” (Schuld
Moral guilt, sin, is per-
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but sin demands repentance (Buße
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In her
view, punishment is non-personal; what is personal, that is, occurs in the
soul, is atonement (Sühne
contrition (Reue
due to punishment may coincide with contrition when one atones by accep-
Punishment restores the world’s balance but does
atonement presupposes that the sin is already made null and void and the
stain removed by contrition and
person who brings about a sta-
Lohn)
owing to his merit (Verdienst
Guilt following positive law is punished by the legislating power or its
In the case of “pure” guilt, the sinner may accept the punishment im-
posed by an earthly judge, seeing him as representing God, Who is judge in
as punishment or impose a punishment upon himself; in either case he sees
God, not himself, as judge, since: “maintaining the world order by weighing
11
Philosophisches Jahrbuch der Görresgesellschaft
Edith Stein on the state
14. History
that history as the unfolding of spirit actualizes the moral idea and the state
control, she adds somewhat cryptically: “We cannot rationally grasp, albeit the-
re is no doubt that it is in fact so, how this should be possible only with [ange-
sichts] free persons and not, say, with [im Umgang mit
good and evil hinges upon the motives behind the choosing and the courses cho-
history of the state is rather bound up with culture: the state gives external
expression to the culture of the previous community from which it sprang and
two distinct entities, since individuals and communities have their history wi-
Particular states, however, may be the bearers of history when
free enough to guide the life of the spirit they harbor; indeed the best way to
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rical entities issuing from the stream of history and developing into centers of
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ture only says that it can, not that it must, do this”
15. Religion
We owe obedience
A believer, she says, must
follow a command he or she receives from God in prayer or through His re-
No wonder the state has
been mistrustful of and hostile to the church, which is the permanent embodi-
Ausgleich
It is, though, only a quali-
If of its own accord the state incorpo-
rates this into the norms for its life, then there is a basis for a de facto smooth
co-existence of sovereign state and religion or the church
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If a people lives its whole life in the presence of God, striving
anxiously to allow itself to be led at every step by His will and believing that
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vine will, and either simply recognizes the priests as holders of the state power
or at least in some way grant them a share in governing the state
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of the world uses the state as an instrument to guide the community and its
members”
God
would indeed be ruling in a sense, but He would not be ordering the state
Rather, the actions of the state would coincide with His will, and those
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its very notion
dictates that it harmonize its laws and actions with these commands”
Stellvertreter)
If it is so it would be only a fact lying outside the notion
conceivable is not the structure of the state but solely the notion of God governing
placet,
surprising conclusion that the state, which seemed to be threatened in its notion by
religion can in reality only exist precisely by being borne by this sphere
Edith Stein on the state
Her understanding of theocracy is now so broad that it is compatible with
In theocracy there is no divergence between religious and secular autho-
Problems arise, however, when we suppose that states exist in their own
A person who disobeys a command of the state out of reli-
At times it is necessary to place great de-
mands on the citizenry, when not doing so would constitute a greater threat,
but ordinarily the leader who does this would himself be subversive, since
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An ethical problem
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supposes
However, when many people withhold obedience, it is a sign the
Here again,
May its representatives issue a command at odds with the religious
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As the individual in these circum-
stances must commend himself to God, so the state must not resist religious
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connects with the state, whose province is freedom, but as free subject, not as
as the community of a people whose life [the state] regulates, but [the state]
itself is not holy
Bibliography
Zum Problem der Einfühlung-
Psychische Kausalität and Individuum und Gemeinschaft in Beiträge zur phi-
losophische Begründung del Psychologie und der Geisteswissenschaften, Jahrbuch,
Eine Untersuchung über den Staat, Jahrbuch
second edition with Beiträge
J. H. Kardinal Newman/ Briefe und Tagebücher bis zum Übertri zur Kirche,
1801-1845
Des heiligen Thomas von Aquino/ “Untersuchungen über die Wahrheit” in
deutscher Übertragung
Endliches und ewiges Sein/ Versuch eines Aufstiegs zum Sinn des Seins
Kreuzeswissenschaft/ Studie über Joannes a Cruce-
Life in a Jewish Family, 1891-1916
Potenz und Akt/ Studien zu einer Philosophie des Seins
Knowledge and Faith
