power. There are no perfect or imprefect nations; in this sphere, nature recognizes no inferiority or superiority, no dominance or servitude. Therefore, Palacký demanded full national equality and equivalency, warning against undervaluing and overvaluing specific nations and the messianic notion about national predestination. Every nation should have its own government and ruler and be subject only to itself. Palacký considered relationships of supremacy and subjugation among nations, together with national expansion, the cause of hostilities and wars, an international evil, and a danger to common peace.
The internal social structure of a nation should be governed by the ideals of liberty and equality which from the time of the French Revolution had become familiar in European political and social life. In his search for the limits of the two principles, Palacký tried to curtail their negative aspects. Liberty, as a condition of prosperity and human dignity, can exist only in a symbiosis with moral and ethical values and must be accompanied by voluntary restrictions and justice. As an attribute of freedom, Palacký stressed morally responsible behavior based on the maxim, “Do not do to others that which you do not want to be done to you” (Kant’s categorical imperative translated by Palacký into more understandable language). Liberty can be realized only in an organized society ruled by authority. The contradiction between the ideal of liberty and the principle of power, between reason and authority, can be overcome if authority is governed by reason and reason utilizes authority. This means that, in practice, governments should adopt appropriate reforms and changes to implement progress and avoid revolutions and violent changes.
The problem of equality and inequality assumed a more complicated form in Palacký’s doctrine. Palacký, accepting natural differences in nature and society, asked whether or not their forcible abolition was necessary to reach true democracy. He considered complete equality of fortunes, jobs, and working conditions utopian. People have always been physically and spiritually different, craving for different goals and Ideals, possessing different working and economic habits. In Palacky’s scheme, equality can be realized only in political life: men can enjoy equal legal and political rights. As a liberal, Palacký considered the ideal of economic and social equality an illusion. However, he sought the leveling of economic and social discrepancies. In regard to the nobility, Palacký openly demanded the obliteration of all political, social, and economic privileges, since they were based on injustice and social coercion.
Palacký’s conception of human relations in national and state societies clearly had a deep ethical core and content. In this sense, Palacký appears
