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Full Idea
It is impossible to feel equal respect for things that are in fact unequal unless the respect is given to something that is identical in all of them. Men are all unequal in all their relations with things of this world.
Gist of Idea
We cannot equally respect what is unequal, so equal respect needs a shared ground
Source
Simone Weil (Draft Statement of Human Obligations [1943], p.223)
Book Ref
Weil,Simone: 'An Anthology' [Penguin 1986], p.223
A Reaction
Weil votes for some link to transcendence in each of us, but I would prefer some more naturalistic proposal for what we all have in common. There are plenty of aspects which unite all human beings, which grounds this unconditional respect.