Chapter 7 discusses the most important philosophers and philosophical streams of the 19th century. These include utilitarianism, as founded by Bentham, as well as Mill’s subsequent development thereof, including his attempt to combine liberalism and utilitarianism. Mill formulated the famous harm principle: the only reason why the state may use force against its citizens is in order to prevent them from harming others; it should not infringe on individual freedom on moralistic grounds. There is a brief discussion of the relativistic legal doctrine of the German Historical School (law as an expression of the character of a people), as well as a more detailed discussion of Hegel, Marx and Nietzsche. Hegel opposes the abstract rationalism that is characteristic of Enlightenment philosophers, such as Kant. Hegel contends that human reason does not stand outside of changing reality, but that it partakes in it: it develops itself through interaction with its changing environment. This also applies to law, which is a cultural product, and which slowly and falteringly in the course of time assumes a rational character. Hegel opposes the liberal ideal of the autonomous individual. When he posits freedom as a central principle, he refers to metaphysical essential freedom: one is free when one identifies oneself with the rational course of history. Karl Marx turned Hegel upside down. He adopted Hegel’s historical model of development via oppositions. According to Marx, however, intellectual oppositions are not decisive, but rather economic ones. World history stages a series of struggles between dominant and oppressed classes: in the 19th century between the capitalists and the industrial workers. The former invoke the discourse of human rights to legitimate their privileges, thus alienating the working class from its true humanity. Marx claims to unmask this as a suppressive ideology, in order to make room for a revolutionary expropriation of the proprietors which would result in a classless and harmonious ‘communist’ society. In Nietzsche’s elitist view, social democracy leads to an extreme equalisation which prevents all human development initiated by supermen. Nietzsche reacts not only against liberalism, but also against communism and Christian neighbourly love, as well as against Enlightenment philosophy and the whole of rationalistic Western thinking since Plato. You must not think but live, Nietzsche thought, filled with romantic passion.