Die (Wieder-)Geburt der Grundrechte aus dem (Un-)Geist der totalen Prävention

In the section „On the Constitution“ in his „Foundations of Natural Right“, Johann Gottlieb Fichte designs a total police state. The passport functions as an instrument to ensure permanent surveillance of citizens. This text paradigmatically shows that total surveillance is not only incapable of guaranteeing the desired security, but that it endangers it itself. The need for fundamental rights can therefore be derived from surveillance itself.