His main argument was that there is always a conflict within man, between the sociable being, who cares for the good of his neighbours, and the selfish being, who cares only for himself, for achievement and independence. This constant struggle, he thought, goes back and forth as times change, producing progress in both spheres, the social and the individual. This creative conflict, he argued, is at its best where there is a strong state, to regulate social life, and the most individual freedom, to let individuality thrive. He was clear in arguing that this was a moral concept of progress: the
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Kant on what makes the self
