436 FICHTE. to satisfaction) up to moral will or the impulse to harmony with self, which stands opposed to the natural impulses as the categorical imperative. The practical ego mediates between the theoretical and the absolute ego. The ego ought to be infinite and self-dependent, but finds itself finite and dependent on a non-ego — a contradiction which is resolved by the ego becoming practical, by the fact that in ever increasing measure it subdues nature to itself, and by such increasing extension of the boundary draws nearer and ever nearer to the realization of its destination^ to become absolute ego. 2. The Science of Ethics and of Right. The moral law demands the control of the sensuous im- pulse by the pure impulse. If the former aims at comfort- able ease and enjoyment, the latter is directed toward satis- faction with one's self, to endeavor and self-dependence. (Enjoyment is inevitable, it is true, as satisfaction where any impulse whatever is carried out ; only it must not form the end of action.) Morality is activity for its own sake, the radical evil — from which only a miracle can deliver us, but a miracle which we must ourselves perform — is inert- ness, lack of will to rise above the natural determinateness of the impulse of self-preservation to the clear conscious- ness of duty and of freedom. For the moral man there is no resting; each end attained becomes for him the im- pulse to renewed endeavor, each task fulfilled leads him to a fresh one. Become self-dependent, act autonomously, make thyself free ; let every action have a place in a series, in the continuation of which the ego must become inde- pendent. To this formal and universal norm, again, there is added a special injunction for each individual. Each individual spirit has its definite mission assigned to it by the world-order : each ought to do that which it alone should and can do. Always fulfill thy moral vocation, thy special destination.* Or both in popular combination : Never act contrary to conscience. The elevation to freedom is accomplished gradually. At
- Although Fichte was justly charged with surpassing even the abstractness
of the Kantian ethics with his bald moral principle, the self-dependence of the
