according to which, for the mere past enjoyment of a thing, there is
demanded the further recompense of the exclusive right to its future
enjoyment, is morally entirely without foundation. A new-comer might with
far better right reply to him who was depending upon such a right, “Just
because you have so long enjoyed, it is right that others should now enjoy
also.” No moral right can be established to the sole possession of
anything upon which labour cannot be expended, either in improving it or
in preserving it from harm, unless it be through a voluntary surrender on
the part of others, as a reward for other services. This, however, already
presupposes a community regulated by agreement—the State. The morally
established right of property, as we have deduced it above, gives, from
its nature, to the owner of a thing, the same unlimited power over it
which he has over his own body; and hence it follows that he can part with
his possessions to others either in exchange or as a gift, and they then
possess them with the same moral right as he did.
As regards the doing of wrong generally, it occurs either through violence
or through craft; it matters not which as far as what is morally essential
is concerned. First, in the case of murder, it is a matter of indifference
whether I make use of a dagger or of poison; and the case of every bodily
injury is analogous. Other cases of wrong can all be reduced to the fact
that I, as the doer of wrong, compel another individual to serve my will
instead of his own, to act according to my will instead of according to
his own. On the path of violence I attain this end through physical
causality, but on the path of craft by means of motivation, _i.e._, by
means of causality through knowledge; for I present to his will illusive
motives, on account of which he follows my will, while he believes he is
following his own. Since the medium in which the motives lie is knowledge,
I can only accomplish this by falsifying his knowledge, and this is the
_lie_. The lie always aims at influencing another’s will, not merely his
knowledge, for itself and as such, but only as a means, so far as it
determines his will. For my lying itself, inasmuch as it proceeds from my
will, requires a motive; and only the will of another can be such a
motive, not his knowledge in and for itself; for as such it can never have
an influence upon _my_ will, therefore it can never move it, can never be
a motive of its aim. But only the willing and doing of another can be
this, and his knowledge indirectly through it. This holds good not only of
all lies that have manifestly sprung from self-interest, but also of those
which proceed from pure wickedness, which seeks enjoyment in the painful
consequences of the error into which it has led another. Indeed, mere
empty boasting aims at influencing the will and action of others more or
less, by increasing their respect or improving their opinion of the
boaster.