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Erlauben Sie mir, dass ich mir eine andere Situation vorstelle, in der wir wissen müssen, auf welche Weise wir uns voneinander unterscheiden, warum manche Menschen nicht den Geboten oder Befehlen unterworfen sind, denen ich normalerweise gehorche oder denen ich mich ergebe, warum einige von einer Reihe von Verboten frei sind und andere nicht. Wir vergleichen uns folglich selbst, um herauszufinden, wo wir – in einem praktischen Sinn – anderen gegenüber situiert sind, auf einer Achse dessen, was wir tun müssen.
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The first is the postulation of the class of genus among compared items. Comparison is performed between or among unified objects, preliminarily identified as belonging to two species, while at the same time comparison is constitutive of the logical dimension of genus where species difference (diaphora) is discovered, measured, or judged. Attributed to the class of species are particular cultures, languages, economic systems, political ideologies, and so forth; each of these is postulated as a unified entity and as a particular (species) example of the general class (genus). Even such items as culture and political ideology are regarded as unified units when we submit these items to comparison. Thus, we compare the English language with the Chinese language, for instance, because these two particular languages belong to the category of language in general. As long as English is assumed to be a systematicity, it is an individual,[1] a unified indivisible entity, but we are far from certain that the item to be compared – the English or Chinese language in this case – exists at the level of the immediately empirical, as traditional logic has sometimes attributed the property of empirical existence to the concept of the individual. As one of many particular languages, English is a particular species of the general genus of language. But, furthermore, a particular language should be able to be conceived of as an indivisible unity in order for us to regard it as an individual. The individual is, after all, an individuum, an entity that cannot be further divided. Comparison is conducted on the presumption that this basic operation of logical and formal reason is still valid and sustainable, and that the individuality of a particular language is indisputable.
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