Lectures on the Principles of Political Obligation

Supplement

Some Quotations rendered into English.

From Sect. 32. Tractatus Politici, II. 4 (‘Per jus itaque’). ‘By right of nature (natural right) I understand … the actual power of nature.’ ‘Whatever an individual man does by the laws of his nature, that he does with the highest natural right, and his right towards nature goes just as far as his power holds out.’

‘Jus naturae’ = ‘natural right.’ ‘Potentia’ = ‘power.’ ‘Jus’ = ‘right.’ ‘Jus humanum’ = ‘right of man,’ or ‘right qua human.’

Ib. II. 5 (‘Homines magis’). ‘Human beings are led more by blind desire than by reason; and hence their natural power or right should be marked out not by reason but by any inclination by which they are determined to act, and by which they endeavour after their own preservation.’

‘Jus civile’ = ‘civic right or law.’

Ib. II. 14 (‘Quatenus homines’). ‘In as far as human beings are troubled by anger, jealousy, or any emotion of hate, so far they are drawn in different directions and are antagonistic to one another, and therefore they are more to be feared in so far as they are more powerful, and more shrewd and astute, than the other animals; and because human beings are in the highest degree liable by nature to these emotions, therefore they are natural enemies (to one another).’

Ib. 15 (‘Atque adeo’). ‘And so we conclude that natural right can hardly be conceived unless where human beings have laws in common, (human beings) who have power at once to assert possession of the lands which they are able to inhabit and to till, and to defend themselves, and to repel all violence, and to live in accordance with the common sentiment of all. For (by art. 13 of this chapter) the more that thus come together into one, the more right they all together possess.’

Ib. 16 (‘Ubi homines’). ‘Where human beings have laws in common and all together are guided as by one mind, it is certain (by art. 13 of this chapter) that each of them has so much the less right as the rest are together more powerful than he; that is, that he in fact has no right over nature beyond that which the common (social) law concedes him. But whatever is enjoined upon him by common consent, he is bound to perform, or (by art. 4 of this chapter) he is compelled to it by law.’

Ib. 17 (‘Hoc jus’). ‘This law (or right), which is coextensive with the power of the plurality, is usually called ‘imperium’ (‘authority,’ ‘government’).

Ib. III. 2 (‘Multitudinis quae’). ‘Of a number or plurality, which is guided as if by a single mind.’ ‘Status civilis’ = ‘civic, or social, condition.’

Ib. III. 3 (‘Homo ex legibus’). [In the civic condition as well as in the state of nature] ‘man acts from the laws of his own nature and consults his own interest.’ ‘Sui juris’ = ‘in its own right,’ ‘autonomous.’

Sect. 33 (1). Ib. III. 7 (‘Civitatis jus’). ‘The right of the state is coextensive with the power of the plurality which is guided as if by one mind. But this oneness of minds is inconceivable, unless the state has for its main intention what sound reason shows to be for the interest of all men.’

(2). Ib. III. 8 (‘Subditi eatenus’). ‘Subjects are not in their own right, but under the right (or law) of the state, so far as they fear its power or threats, or so far as they love the social condition (by art. 10 of preceding chapter). From which it follows, that all those acts to which no one can be impelled by rewards or threats lie outside the right (or law) of the state.’

(3). Ib. III. 9 (‘Ad civitatis jus’). ‘That belongs to the right of the state in a less degree, which causes indignation in a greater number.’ (‘Sicut’). ‘Like the individual citizen, or the man in a state of nature, the state is less in its own right in proportion as it has greater cause for fear.’

Sect. 34. Ib. III. 11 (‘Nam quandoquidem’). ‘For seeing that (by art. 2 of this chapter) the right of the supreme power is nothing but the actual right of nature, it follows that two governments are to one another as two men in the state of nature, except that the state can defend itself against external aggression in a way impossible for man in a state of nature, inasmuch as he is overcome daily by sleep, often by disease or distress, and in the end by old age, and besides this is exposed to other inconveniences, against which the state can protect itself.’

Ib. III. 13 (‘Duae civitates’). ‘Two states are natural enemies. For men in the state of nature are enemies. Those, therefore, who retain the right of nature, as not being in the same state, are enemies.’

Ib. III. 14 (‘Nec dici potest’). ‘Nor can it be said to act with craft or perfidy in that it dissolves its promise as soon as the cause of fear or hope is removed; because this condition was the same for both contracting parties, that whichsoever is first enabled to be free from fear should be in its own right, and should use its right according to the sentiment of its mind; and, moreover, because no one contracts for the future except on supposition of the circumstances under which he contracts.’

Sect. 35. Ib. II. 18 (‘In statu’). ‘In a state of nature there can be no transgression, or if one transgresses, he does so against himself, not against another; … nothing is absolutely forbidden by the law of nature, except what no one has power to do.’

‘Commune decretum’ = ‘the common (or social) behest.’

Ib. V. 1 (‘Non id omne’). ‘Not everything which we say is done rightfully, do we affirm to be the best to be done. It is one thing to till a field within your right, and another thing to till it in the best way; it is one thing, I say, to defend yourself, preserve yourself, give judgment &c. within your right, and another thing to do all these acts in the best way; and accordingly it is one thing to govern and manage a state within its rights, and another thing to do this in the best way. Thus, now that we have treated in general of the right of every state, it is time to treat of the best condition of every state.’

‘Finis status civilis’ = ‘the end or aim of the civic or social condition.’

Ib. V. 2 (‘Homines enim’). ‘Men are not born of civic temper, but become so. Moreover, the natural dispositions of men are everywhere the same.’

Ib. V. 4 (‘Pax enim’). ‘Peace is not absence of war, but a virtue which arises from fortitude of mind; for obedience is a constant will to perform that which the common behest of the state requires to be done.’

Ethics, III. 59, Schol. (in footnote on preceding passage) (‘Omnes actiones’). ‘All the actions which follow from the affects which are related to the mind, in so far as it thinks, I ascribe to fortitude, which I divide into strength of mind and generosity. By strength of mind I mean the desire by which each person endeavours, from the dictates of reason alone, to preserve his own being. By generosity I mean the desire by which, from the dictates of reason alone, each person endeavours to help other people and to join them to him in friendship.’

(‘Quae maxime’). ‘Which is mainly coextensive with reason, the true virtue and life of the mind.’

(‘Quod multitudo libera’). [An authority which] ‘a free plurality institutes, not one which is acquired against the plurality by the right of war.’

Sect. 36. ‘Suum esse conservare’ = ‘to preserve his own being.’

‘Homini nihil’ = ‘nothing is more useful to man, than man.’

‘Homo namque.’ See on sect. 32.

‘Constans voluntas.’ See on sect. 35.

‘Vitam concorditer transigere’ = ‘to live in harmony.’

Footnote on ‘Libera multitudo,’ II. 11 (‘Hominem eatenus’). ‘The sense in which at all I call a man free is in so far as he is guided by reason; because thus far he is determined to action by causes which can be adequately understood out of his nature alone, although by them he be necessarily determined to action. For freedom of action does not deny but affirms necessity.’

On Sect. 37. II. 15 (‘Jus naturae’). See on sect. 32.

On Sect. 39. πόλις (polis) = state, including much that we mean by ‘society.’

τέλος (telos) = end, aim, final cause.

πολίτης (polites) = citizen.

φύσει πολιτικός (phusei politikos) = social, or civic, by nature.

πολίτης μετέχει τοῦ ἄρχειν καὶ τοῦ ἄρχεσθαι (polites metechei) ‘The citizen takes his share both in governing and in being governed.’

On Sect. 40. Footnote, Eth. IV. Appendix, xxxii (‘Ea quae’). ‘We shall bear with equanimity those things which happen to us contrary to what a consideration of our own profit demands, if we are conscious that we have performed our duty, that the power we have could not reach so far as to enable us to avoid those things, and that we are a part of the whole of nature, whose order we follow. If we clearly and distinctly understand this, the part of us which is determined by intelligence—that is to say, the better part of us—will be entirely satisfied therewith, and in that satisfaction will endeavour to persevere; for, in so far as we understand, we cannot desire anything excepting what is necessary, nor absolutely can we be satisfied with anything but the truth. Therefore, in so far as we understand these things properly will the efforts of the better part of us agree with the whole order of nature.’ Eth. IV. Preface (‘Per bonum’). ‘By good, therefore, I understand in the following pages everything which we are certain is a means by which we may approach nearer and nearer to the model of human nature we set before us…. Again, I shall call men more or less perfect or imperfect in so far as they approach nearer and nearer to the model of human nature we set before us.’

On Sect. 41. ‘Nihil positivum in rebus in se consideratis’ = ‘nothing positive in things considered in themselves.’

In all the quotations from Spinoza’s_ Ethics_ Mr. Hales White’s translation has been followed.