Alexander von Humboldt on Freedom and Diversity: How State Interference Destroys Society

“The true purpose of man, not that which is dictated by changing inclinations, but that which is dictated by eternal and unchanging reason, is the highest and most proportionate development of his powers into a whole. Freedom is the first and indispensable condition for this development. (...) It is precisely the diversity that arises from the union of many that is the highest good that society offers, and this diversity is certainly always lost to the extent that the state interferes. It is no longer actually the members of a nation who live together in community, but individual subjects who enter into a relationship with the state, i.e., with the spirit that prevails in its government, and indeed into a relationship in which the superior power of the state already inhibits the free play of forces. Uniform causes have uniform effects. The more the state intervenes, the more similar not only everything that acts becomes, but also everything that is acted upon. (...) But anyone who reasons in this way for others is, not without reason, suspected of misunderstanding humanity and wanting to turn people into machines.”

Alexander von Humboldt

Alexander von Humboldt was a Prussian naturalist, geographer, and philosopher who is considered a pioneer of modern geosciences.

Humboldt's words remind us that true human development can only occur in freedom. The diversity of a society is its most valuable asset, endangered by state interference.

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