Charles Carroll Everett

“ Thus the proposition, Man is Free, is a thetic proposition. It is the result of no synthesis. We do not examine the characteristics of different classes of beings—one consisting of the free, and the other of those that are not free—and decide that man belongs to the former class. There is no such class to be found. We do not separate man negatively from the creatures of nature that are not free, which would imply that he and they were united in some higher generalization. Man, so far as he is free—so far as he is absolute subject—has nothing in common with these creatures of nature. ”

“ Every analysis, then, presupposes a synthesis, and every synthesis presupposes an analysis. When we say that X is Y, we express an analysis, or imply that such an analysis has been made. We recognize the fact that X and Y have already been distinguished from each other. If we say X is not Y, we imply a previous synthesis by which they had been brought together. ”

“ What it is, cannot be learned by experience, for absolute freedom is a goal rather than a fact—a goal which we may forever approach, but which we may never reach. It is a goal which the spirit has set for itself. ”