point of condensation

Professor Freitas do Amaral Curso de Direito Administrativo has a full chapter on the subject "O Estado". Its first paragraph is titled "Várias acepções da palavra Estado". Not surprisingly, everything in this science begins with the meaning of words.

Then he writes: "A palavra Estado tem várias acepções, das quais as mais importantes são a acepção internacional, a acepção constitucional e a acepção administrativa" (op. cit., p. 197) and he goes on to explain each one of them. You might just notice that there are several more meanings for the word Estado, even though Professor Amaral just bothers to mention three of them, possibly because to enumerate all of them would take a full volume.

That is what Professor Jorge Miranda precisely does in his Manual de Direito Constitucional. Tome III is mostly devoted to find out the meaning of that mysterious word - Estado. I lost count of the many definitions and characterizations of Estado you can find in this volume and many are worth noting.

For example, referring to the Marxist conception of Estado Professor Miranda writes: "O Estado (...) é a confissão de que (a) sociedade se enredou numa irredutível contradição consigo mesma e está dividida por antagonismos irreconciliáveis". Then, to make matters clearer, he adds: "O Estado é o resumo, o ponto de condensação das contradições da sociedade (...)". (op. cit., pp. 14-15).

I find it particularly illuminating to see the State as a confession. But to see it as a point of condensation, I must admit, it is worth of a genius.