---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Yet mere membership as a matter of duty…"
description: "\"“Yet mere membership as a matter of duty is not enough for Hegel, given the grandeur of the state’s divine historical purpose: “One must worship the st..."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/371/stephen-r-c-hicks-12692_hegel_yet-mere-membership-as-a-matter-of-duty_229759.jpg"
---

#  Yet mere membership as a matter of duty is not enough for…

![“Yet mere membership as a matter of duty is not enough for Hegel, given the grandeur of the state’s divine historical purpose: “One must worship the state as a terrestrial divinity.”[211]” quote by Stephen R.C. Hicks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/371/stephen-r-c-hicks-12692_hegel_yet-mere-membership-as-a-matter-of-duty_229759.jpg)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/371/stephen-r-c-hicks-12692_hegel_yet-mere-membership-as-a-matter-of-duty_229759.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/371/stephen-r-c-hicks-12692_hegel_yet-mere-membership-as-a-matter-of-duty_229759.jpg)

> ““Yet mere membership as a matter of duty is not enough for Hegel, given the grandeur of the state’s divine historical purpose: “One must worship the state as a terrestrial divinity.”\[211\]””

[Stephen R.C. Hicks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-r-c-hicks/)

## About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

Hegel sees the state as a divine entity, demanding worship beyond mere duty.

**In simple terms:** State seen as sacred beyond duty.

Key Takeaway

Recognize the limits of civic duty versus ideological devotion.

Themes

politics philosophy statehood

Mood

thoughtful serious

Type

philosophical political

When to use this quote

- citizenship education
- political theory courses
- public discourse
- constitutional debate

Key Concepts

Hegelian idealism civic responsibility

Questions to Reflect On

- Should the state be worshipped?
- How to balance civic duty with personal liberty?

A Different Perspective

Blind reverence can suppress individual freedoms.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★   No ratings yet

[Duty Hegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/duty-hegel-2328029/) [Hegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hegel/) [State Divine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/state-divine-2328030/) [Terrestrial Divinity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/terrestrial-divinity-2328031/) [Worship State](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/worship-state-690082/)

## Related quotes

> [Know that the eradication of the identification with the body is charity, spiritual austerity and ritual sacrifice; it is virtue, divine union and devotion;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ramana-maharshi/know-that-the-eradication-of-the-identification-with-the-body-is/)

[Ramana Maharshi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ramana-maharshi/)

> [All the worth which the human being possesses, all spiritual reality, he possesses only through the State. . . For Truth is the unity…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georg-wilhelm-friedrich-hegel/all-the-worth-which-the-human-being-possesses-all-spiritual-reality/)

[Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georg-wilhelm-friedrich-hegel/)

> [The State is the Divine idea as it exists on Earth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georg-wilhelm-friedrich-hegel/the-state-is-the-divine-idea-as-it-exists-on-earth/)

[Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georg-wilhelm-friedrich-hegel/)

> [There certainly are those who worship the state much as divinities are worshipped. Not just the state but even leaders.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noam-chomsky/there-certainly-are-those-who-worship-the-state-much-as-divinities/)

[Noam Chomsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noam-chomsky/)

> [The worship of the state is the worship of force. There is no more dangerous menace to civilization than a government of incompetent, corrupt,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ludwig-von-mises/the-worship-of-the-state-is-the-worship-of-force-there-is-no-more/)

[Ludwig von Mises](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ludwig-von-mises/)

> [A new type of superstition has got hold of people's minds, the worship of the state. People demand the exercise of the methods of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ludwig-von-mises/a-new-type-of-superstition-has-got-hold-of-people-s-minds-the-worship/)

[Ludwig von Mises](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ludwig-von-mises/)

> [A new type of superstition has got hold of people's minds, the worship of the state.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ludwig-von-mises/a-new-type-of-superstition-has-got-hold-of-people-s-minds-the-worship-2/)

[Ludwig von Mises](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ludwig-von-mises/)

> [“Yet it is also true, Hegel granted, that in many cases the individual’s freedoms and interests will genuinely be set aside, overridden, and even…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-r-c-hicks/yet-it-is-also-true-hegel-granted-that-in-many-cases-the-individual-s/)

[Stephen R.C. Hicks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-r-c-hicks/)

> [“And again, just in case we have missed Hegel’s point: “A single person, I need hardly say, is something subordinate, and as such he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-r-c-hicks/and-again-just-in-case-we-have-missed-hegel-s-point-a-single-person-i/)

[Stephen R.C. Hicks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-r-c-hicks/)

> [“Should you ever intend to dull the wits of a young man and to incapacitate his brains for any kind of thought whatever, then…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-r-popper/should-you-ever-intend-to-dull-the-wits-of-a-young-man-and-to/)

[Karl R. Popper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-r-popper/)

> [“My application's not bought,' I am telling them, calling into the darkness of the red cave that opens out before closed eyes. 'I am…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-foster-wallace/my-application-s-not-bought-i-am-telling-them-calling-into-the/)

[David Foster Wallace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-foster-wallace/)

> [At the present moment, the security of coherent philosophy, which existed from Parmenides to Hegel, is lost.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-jaspers/at-the-present-moment-the-security-of-coherent-philosophy-which/)

[Karl Jaspers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-jaspers/)

> [People are mostly sane enough, of course, in the affairs of common life: the getting of food, shelter, and so on. But the moment…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-stove/people-are-mostly-sane-enough-of-course-in-the-affairs-of-common-life/)

[David Stove](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-stove/)

> [That Hegel's theory is derivative from Fichte's does not prevent it from being strikingly original and of independent value.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allen-w-wood/that-hegel-s-theory-is-derivative-from-fichte-s-does-not-prevent-it/)

[Allen W. Wood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allen-w-wood/)

> [“For Hegel , by contrast, liberal society is a reciprocal and equal agreement among citizens to mutually recognize each other”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francis-fukuyama/for-hegel-by-contrast-liberal-society-is-a-reciprocal-and-equal/)

[Francis Fukuyama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francis-fukuyama/)

## More by Stephen R.C. Hicks

> [“Nasty political correctness as a tactic then makes perfect sense. Having rejected reason, we will not expect ourselves or others to behave reasonably. Having…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-r-c-hicks/nasty-political-correctness-as-a-tactic-then-makes-perfect-sense/)

[Stephen R.C. Hicks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-r-c-hicks/)

> [“Marxism was and is a class analysis, pitting economic classes against each other in a zero-sum competition. In that competition, the stronger parties would…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-r-c-hicks/marxism-was-and-is-a-class-analysis-pitting-economic-classes-against/)

[Stephen R.C. Hicks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-r-c-hicks/)

> [“Deconstruction as an educational strategy   Here is an example. Kate Ellis is a radical gender feminist. Ellis, as she writes in Socialist Review,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-r-c-hicks/deconstruction-as-an-educational-strategy-here-is-an-example-kate/)

[Stephen R.C. Hicks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-r-c-hicks/)

> [“In a “secret speech” to the twentieth Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Nikita Khrushchev made a sensational revelation of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-r-c-hicks/in-a-secret-speech-to-the-twentieth-congress-of-the-communist-party/)

[Stephen R.C. Hicks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-r-c-hicks/)

> [“That is my second hypothesis: Postmodernism is a response to the crisis of faith of the academic far Left. Its epistemology justifies the leap…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-r-c-hicks/that-is-my-second-hypothesis-postmodernism-is-a-response-to-the/)

[Stephen R.C. Hicks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-r-c-hicks/)

> [ “Given the pervasiveness of capitalism’s domination, the revolutionary vanguard can come only from those outcast intellectuals—especially among the younger students\[282\]—those who are able to… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-r-c-hicks/given-the-pervasiveness-of-capitalism-s-domination-the-revolutionary/)

[Stephen R.C. Hicks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-r-c-hicks/)

> [“A variation on this strategy was implicit in a new definition of “poverty” that the Left began to offer in the early 1960s: the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-r-c-hicks/a-variation-on-this-strategy-was-implicit-in-a-new-definition-of/)

[Stephen R.C. Hicks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-r-c-hicks/)

> [“Postmodernism is the first ruthlessly consistent statement of the consequences of rejecting reason, those consequences being necessary given the history of epistemology since Kant.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-r-c-hicks/postmodernism-is-the-first-ruthlessly-consistent-statement-of-the/)

[Stephen R.C. Hicks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-r-c-hicks/)

> [“From the postmodern anti-realist metaphysics and anti-reason epistemology, the postmodern social consequences follow almost directly. Once we set aside reality and reason, what are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-r-c-hicks/from-the-postmodern-anti-realist-metaphysics-and-anti-reason/)

[Stephen R.C. Hicks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-r-c-hicks/)

> [“The empirical evidence has been much harder on socialism. Economically, in practice the capitalist nations are increasingly productive and prosperous, with no end in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-r-c-hicks/the-empirical-evidence-has-been-much-harder-on-socialism-economically/)

[Stephen R.C. Hicks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-r-c-hicks/)

> [“Yet it is also true, Hegel granted, that in many cases the individual’s freedoms and interests will genuinely be set aside, overridden, and even…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-r-c-hicks/yet-it-is-also-true-hegel-granted-that-in-many-cases-the-individual-s/)

[Stephen R.C. Hicks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-r-c-hicks/)

> [“Morally and politically, in practice every liberal capitalist country has a solid record for being humane, for by and large respecting rights and freedoms,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-r-c-hicks/morally-and-politically-in-practice-every-liberal-capitalist-country/)

[Stephen R.C. Hicks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-r-c-hicks/)

> [“In our time, the world created by the Enlightenment is strong, active, and exuberant. For a while in the past century, socialists could believe…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-r-c-hicks/in-our-time-the-world-created-by-the-enlightenment-is-strong-active/)

[Stephen R.C. Hicks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-r-c-hicks/)

> [“Kunst ist Scheisse (Art is shit) was, fittingly, the motto of the Dada movement. Duchamp’s urinal was the fitting symbol. Everything is waste to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-r-c-hicks/kunst-ist-scheisse-art-is-shit-was-fittingly-the-motto-of-the-dada/)

[Stephen R.C. Hicks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-r-c-hicks/)

> [“In effect, by rejecting high-tech socialism and substituting a vision of low-tech, egalitarian socialism, this new Left strategy also resolved to quote Marx less…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-r-c-hicks/in-effect-by-rejecting-high-tech-socialism-and-substituting-a-vision/)

[Stephen R.C. Hicks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-r-c-hicks/)

[Explore all 53 Stephen R.C. Hicks quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-r-c-hicks/)

## More Hegel quotes

> [“For Hegel , by contrast, liberal society is a reciprocal and equal agreement among citizens to mutually recognize each other”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francis-fukuyama/for-hegel-by-contrast-liberal-society-is-a-reciprocal-and-equal/)

[Francis Fukuyama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francis-fukuyama/)

> [That Hegel's theory is derivative from Fichte's does not prevent it from being strikingly original and of independent value.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allen-w-wood/that-hegel-s-theory-is-derivative-from-fichte-s-does-not-prevent-it/)

[Allen W. Wood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allen-w-wood/)

> [People are mostly sane enough, of course, in the affairs of common life: the getting of food, shelter, and so on. But the moment…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-stove/people-are-mostly-sane-enough-of-course-in-the-affairs-of-common-life/)

[David Stove](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-stove/)

> [At the present moment, the security of coherent philosophy, which existed from Parmenides to Hegel, is lost.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-jaspers/at-the-present-moment-the-security-of-coherent-philosophy-which/)

[Karl Jaspers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-jaspers/)

> [“My application's not bought,' I am telling them, calling into the darkness of the red cave that opens out before closed eyes. 'I am…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-foster-wallace/my-application-s-not-bought-i-am-telling-them-calling-into-the/)

[David Foster Wallace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-foster-wallace/)

> [“Should you ever intend to dull the wits of a young man and to incapacitate his brains for any kind of thought whatever, then…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-r-popper/should-you-ever-intend-to-dull-the-wits-of-a-young-man-and-to/)

[Karl R. Popper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-r-popper/)

> [Contemporary philosophy illustrates Hegel's dictum that philosophy is its own time apprehended in thought, for in our age philosophy yields to the objectifying technical…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-phillip-verene/contemporary-philosophy-illustrates-hegel-s-dictum-that-philosophy-is/)

[Donald Phillip Verene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-phillip-verene/)

> [“For Hegel, reality is the absolute, which exists in a dialectical evolution that is logical and rational in character. According to his famous statement,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/juli-n-mar-as/for-hegel-reality-is-the-absolute-which-exists-in-a-dialectical/)

[Julián Marías](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/juli-n-mar-as/)

> [“Ever since Hegel, world history, in contrast to historia , seems to be precisely what one has not seen and experienced, inquired after and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-l-with/ever-since-hegel-world-history-in-contrast-to-historia-seems-to-be/)

[Karl Löwith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-l-with/)

> [The fact is that philosophy has been a decisive source of inspiration in all the great crises that Europe has faced. It has been…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roberto-esposito/the-fact-is-that-philosophy-has-been-a-decisive-source-of-inspiration/)

[Roberto Esposito](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roberto-esposito/)

> [“The mystery of this courage of Bauer’s is Hegel’s Phenomenology. As Hegel here puts self-consciousness in the place of man, the most varied human…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-marx/the-mystery-of-this-courage-of-bauer-s-is-hegel-s-phenomenology-as/)

[Karl Marx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-marx/)

> [“The fascist appeal to ‘human nature’ is to our passions, to our collectivist mystical needs, to ‘man the unknown’. Adopting Hegel’s words just quoted,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-r-popper/the-fascist-appeal-to-human-nature-is-to-our-passions-to-our/)

[Karl R. Popper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-r-popper/)

> [Fichte is a necessary step to both Hegel and Marx.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allen-w-wood/fichte-is-a-necessary-step-to-both-hegel-and-marx/)

[Allen W. Wood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allen-w-wood/)

> [“Once the world of ideas has been transformed, reality cannot hold out for long. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-holland/once-the-world-of-ideas-has-been-transformed-reality-cannot-hold-out/)

[Tom Holland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-holland/)

> [Thinking is the subtlest form of self-polemics, the art of a certain finesse in psychological self-vivisection and self-crucifixion (Hegel of course called the path…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenny-smith/thinking-is-the-subtlest-form-of-self-polemics-the-art-of-a-certain/)

[Kenny Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenny-smith/)

[Browse all 142 Hegel quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hegel/)

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "Quotation",
            "text": "“Yet mere membership as a matter of duty is not enough for Hegel, given the grandeur of the state’s divine historical purpose: “One must worship the state as a terrestrial divinity.”[211]”",
            "creator": {
                "@type": "Person",
                "name": "Stephen R.C. Hicks"
            },
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-r-c-hicks/yet-mere-membership-as-a-matter-of-duty-is-not-enough-for-hegel-given/",
            "about": {
                "@type": "Thing",
                "name": "Hegel"
            },
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-r-c-hicks/yet-mere-membership-as-a-matter-of-duty-is-not-enough-for-hegel-given/#quotation",
            "image": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/371/stephen-r-c-hicks-12692_hegel_yet-mere-membership-as-a-matter-of-duty_229759.jpg",
                "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/371/stephen-r-c-hicks-12692_hegel_yet-mere-membership-as-a-matter-of-duty_229759.jpg",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/371/stephen-r-c-hicks-12692_hegel_yet-mere-membership-as-a-matter-of-duty_229759.jpg",
                "width": 1080,
                "height": 1080,
                "caption": "“Yet mere membership as a matter of duty is not enough for Hegel, given the grandeur of the state’s divine…” — Stephen R.C. Hicks",
                "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                "creator": {
                    "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                }
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "name": "Home",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "name": "Quotes",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 3,
                    "name": "Stephen R.C. Hicks",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-r-c-hicks/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "“Yet mere membership as a matter...",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-r-c-hicks/yet-mere-membership-as-a-matter-of-duty-is-not-enough-for-hegel-given/"
                }
            ],
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-r-c-hicks/yet-mere-membership-as-a-matter-of-duty-is-not-enough-for-hegel-given/#breadcrumb"
        },
        {
            "@type": "WebSite",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "publisher": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "Organization",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "logo": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png",
                "width": 512,
                "height": 512
            }
        }
    ]
}
```