Ethical Life §I68-I72

This passage explores how the family functions as an ethical institution by transforming individual selfishness into a communal purpose through shared resources and the upbringing of children. The author argues that a family’s true essence is realized in children, who represent the objective existence of their parents' love and are raised to become self-sufficient, free personalities. Central to this process is the ethical dissolution of the family, which occurs when children mature into independent legal persons, shifting the focus from the original household to the creation of new, autonomous family units. Finally, the text distinguishes the essential bond of the immediate family from broader kinship groups or arbitrary legal arrangements, asserting that inheritance and property should serve this organic ethical union rather than the external whims of individual caprice.