The teachings of T. Hobbes on the natural state of mankind
Thomas Hobbes made a huge contribution to science and philosophy. In his work “On the Body”, the English thinker managed to reveal his understanding of the subject of philosophy with the greatest completeness. Answering the question "what is philosophy", Hobbes, like other advanced thinkers of his era, opposed scholasticism, which existed as the official philosophy of the Christian church in most Western European countries.
Philosophy is divided by Hobbes into two main parts: the philosophy of nature and the philosophy of the state. The first is concerned with natural bodies, which are the products of nature. The second explores the phenomena of social life, and first of all the state, which forms an artificial, political body, created on a contractual basis by the people themselves. In order to know the state, it is necessary to first study the person, the inclinations and customs of people united in civil society. This is what moral philosophy does. Thus, the philosophical system of Hobbes consists of three interrelated parts: the doctrine of natural bodies, the doctrine of man, and the doctrine of the political body, or state.
The most important are the socio-political views of T. Hobbes, which are contained in his works "On the Citizen", "Leviathan". T. Hobbes puts a certain idea of the nature of the individual at the basis of his philosophical system. The starting point of his reasoning about the social structure and the state is the "natural state of people." This natural state is characterized by him "the natural tendency of people to harm themselves mutually, which they derive from their passions, but most importantly, from the vanity of self-love, the right of everyone to everything."
The philosopher believes that although initially all people are created equal in terms of physical and mental abilities, and each of them has the same “right to everything” as the others, however, a person is also a deeply selfish being, overwhelmed by greed, fear and ambition. Surround him only envious, rivals, enemies. "Man to man is a wolf." Therefore, the philosopher believes that in the very nature of people there are reasons for rivalry, mistrust and fear, which lead to hostile clashes and violent actions aimed at destroying or subjugating others. Added to this is the desire for fame and differences of opinion, which also cause people to resort to violence. Hence the fatal inevitability in society "... the war of all against all, when everyone is controlled by his own mind and there is nothing that he could not use as a means of salvation from enemies" T. Hobbes. Works in 2 T. T2. / compiler editor V.V. Sokolov, translated from Latin and English. - M.: Thought. 1991 p.99. To have the "right to everything" in the conditions of such a war means "... to have the right to everything, even the life of every other person." T. Hobbes decree op. 99 In this war, according to Hobbes, there can be no winners, it expresses a situation in which everyone is threatened by everything - “... as long as the right of everyone to everything is preserved, not a single person (no matter how strong or wise he may be) can be sure of that he can live all the time that nature usually provides for human life ”T. Hobbes decree op. from. 99. During such a war, people use sophisticated violence to subjugate others or in self-defense.
One way or another, but “... people are naturally subject to greed, fear, anger and other animal passions”, they seek “honor and benefits”, act “for the sake of benefit or glory, i.e. for the sake of love for oneself, and not for others”, therefore everyone is the enemy of everyone, relying in life only on their own strength and dexterity, resourcefulness and ingenuity. Thus, selfishness is declared to be the main stimulus of human activity. But Hobbes does not condemn people for their selfish inclinations, does not consider that they are evil by nature. After all, it is not the desires of people themselves that are evil, the philosopher points out, but only the results of actions arising from these desires. And even then only when these actions harm other people. In addition, it must be borne in mind that people "by nature are devoid of education and are not trained to obey reason."
It is precisely about the state of general war and confrontation that Hobbes writes as the “natural state of the human race” and interprets it as the absence of civil society, i.e. state organization, state-legal regulation of people's lives. In a word, in a society where there is no state organization and control, arbitrariness and lack of rights reign, "and a person's life is lonely, poor, hopeless, stupid and short-lived." However, in the nature of people, according to Hobbes, there are not only forces that plunge individuals into the abyss of the “war of all against all”, people are eager to get out of this miserable state, they strive to create guarantees of peace and security. After all, a person is also inherent in the properties of a completely different plane; they are such that they impel individuals to find a way out of such a disastrous state of nature. First of all, it is fear, death and the instinct of self-preservation, which dominates over the rest of the passions "... the desire for things necessary for a good life, and the hope of acquiring them with one's diligence." T. Hobbes Decree Op. from. 98 Together with them comes natural reason, i.e. the ability of everyone to think rationally about the positive and negative consequences of their actions. Feelings and reason dictate to people the need to abandon the state of nature and transition to civil society, to a state system. As a result of such aspirations, natural law - “i.e. the freedom of every man to use his own powers as he sees fit for the preservation of his own life” ibid., p. 98 gives way to the natural law, according to which “it is forbidden for a person to do what is harmful to his life or what deprives him of the means to preserve it” ibid p.98. The instinct of self-preservation gives the first impulse to the process of overcoming the natural state, and the natural mind tells people on what conditions they can carry out this process. These conditions (the prescriptions of natural reason express them) are what are otherwise called natural laws.
Hobbes notes that one should distinguish between jus and lex - right and law, "for the right consists in the freedom to do or not to do something, while the law determines and obliges one or the other." Thus, natural law is not the result of the agreement of people, but is a prescription of human reason. According to Hobbes, natural laws proceed from human nature itself and are divine only in the sense that reason "is given to every man by God as a measure of his actions," and the moral principles of Holy Scripture, although announced to people by God himself, can be deduced regardless of him "by means of inferences from the concept of natural law", i.e. with the help of the mind. The main general prescription of reason according to Hobbes is that every man must seek peace if he has any hope of achieving it; if he cannot achieve it, then he can use any means that give advantage in war.
Therefore, the first part of the basic natural law, derived by the philosopher, says: one should seek the world and follow it. The second part is the content of natural law, which is reduced to the right to defend oneself by all possible means. From the basic law, Hobbes derives, relying on his synthetic method, the rest of the natural laws. The most important among them is the renunciation of each of his rights to the extent that this is required by the interests of peace and self-defense (the second natural law). The renunciation of a right is made according to Hobbes, either by a simple renunciation of it, or by transferring it to another person. But not all human rights can be alienated - a person cannot give up the right to defend his life and resist those who attack him. It is also impossible to demand the renunciation of the right to resist violence, attempts at deprivation of liberty, imprisonment, etc. The mutual transfer of rights is carried out by people in the form of an agreement - “A contract is the action of two or many persons transferring their rights to each other.” In the event that an agreement is concluded about something that relates to the future, it is called an agreement. Agreements can be concluded by people, both under the influence of fear and voluntarily.
A third natural law follows from the second natural law: people are obliged to fulfill the agreements they have made, otherwise the latter will have no meaning. The third natural law contains the source and beginning of justice.
In Leviathan, Hobbes, in addition to the three indicated, indicated 16 more natural (immutable and eternal) laws. Most of them are in the nature of demands or prohibitions: to be fair, merciful, compliant, unforgiving, impartial and at the same time not to be cruel, vengeful, arrogant, perfidious, etc. Thus, for example, the sixth natural law says: if there is a guarantee regarding the future, a person must forgive past offenses to those who, showing repentance, wish it. Hobbes Decree Op. 177 The ninth law states that each person must recognize others as equal by nature. Violation of this rule is the pride of Hobbes, decree op. 118. The eleventh law (impartiality) obliges.. if a person is authorized to be a judge in a dispute between two people, then natural law prescribes that he judge them impartially. For otherwise disputes between people can be resolved only by war. T. Hobbes decree op. p.119 The sixteenth law states that in the event of a dispute, the parties must submit their decision to the arbitrator. there with 121
Thus, Hobbes reduces all natural laws to one general rule: "do not do to another what you would not like to be done to you."
As Doctor of Law L.S. Mamut, the real socio-historical prototypes of those natural laws that T. Hobbes talks about - the relationship of commodity owners, private owners, mediated by acts of exchange and formalized by contracts. Thus, in the end, it is the exchange and the contract that, according to the concept of T. Hobbes, are the prerequisites for establishing peace in the human community. History of Political and Legal Doctrines: A Textbook for High Schools. 4th ed., ed. professor V.S. Nersesyants. - M: Publishing group NORMA-INFRA * M, 2004 p.263.
No matter how impressive the role of natural laws, however, they themselves are not binding. Only force can turn them into an unconditional imperative of behavior. For Hobbes, the natural law, as we have already noted, is the freedom to do or not do something, and the positive law is the command to do or, conversely, not to do something. Natural laws oblige the individual to desire their implementation, but cannot make him practically act in accordance with them. We certainly need a force that can severely limit the right of everyone to everything and decide what belongs to whom, what is a right, and what is not.
The absolute power of the state is, according to T. Hobbes, the guarantor of peace and the implementation of natural laws. It compels the individual to fulfill them by issuing civil laws. If natural laws are associated with reason, then civil laws are based on force. However, their content is the same. Any arbitrary inventions of legislators cannot be civil laws, for the latter are those natural laws, but only backed up by the authority and power of the state. They can neither be canceled nor changed by the simple will of the state. Putting civil laws in such a strict dependence on natural laws, T. Hobbes probably wanted to direct the activities of the state to ensure the development of new, bourgeois social relations. But it is unlikely that he had the intention of subordinating state power to law.
NATURAL STATE
NATURAL STATE
a concept that characterizes the original natural of human life on Earth before it took any organized forms. Theories of the state of nature first arose during the Middle Ages, and there were significant variations from some idyllic-paradise interpretation of primitive life to concepts according to which people at that time lived disunitedly and were in a state of “war of all against all” (Hobbes), leading either to complete mutual destruction, or to the conclusion of some kind of social contract - the forerunner of the future state structure. For Hegel, the state of nature was associated exclusively with the factor of violence and natural cruelty, since, according to him, law can be instituted and guaranteed only within the framework of an organized society and state.
Philosophical Encyclopedic Dictionary. 2010 .
NATURAL STATE
NATURAL (lat. naturalis) - legal and political consciousness, found in the Cynics and Aristotle, but acquired importance in the works of thinkers of the 17-18 centuries. T. Hobbes considered the “war of all against all” to be a characteristic feature of the state of nature, to stop which people seek to enter into a “civilian state” and conclude. For J. Dhaka, this is a state of “complete freedom in relation to their (people. -TD) actions and in relation to the disposal of their property and personality” (Two treatises on government. - Soch., vol. 3. M., 1988 , p. 263). This is not yet a state of war, but only one, the prevention of which also requires the conclusion of a social contract. J.-J. Rousseau saw in the state of nature the “golden age” of humanity, which is characterized by the absence of political, legal and property inequality: “... in the primitive state there were no houses, no huts, no property of any kind” (Discourse on the origin inequalities, in the book: Rousseau, Treatises, Moscow, 1969, p. 58). According to Rousseau, in the state of nature there was no war between people, because they have an innate benevolence and compassion. Only later do the quotient and inequality appear. The idea of the state of nature as the “initial stage” of human history and at the same time a prototype of the future ideal state played an important role in the struggle of the ideologists of industrial civilization with feudal-estate institutions.
T.B.Dpugach
New Philosophical Encyclopedia: In 4 vols. M.: Thought. Edited by V. S. Stepin. 2001 .
See what "NATURAL STATE" is in other dictionaries:
- (state of nature) The state of mankind before some (certain) event, invasion or artificiality. The state of nature (regardless of whether it was understood as a historical reality or as the result of a mental ... ... Political science. Dictionary.
Encyclopedia of Sociology
NATURAL STATE- English. state of nature; German Naturzustand. The supposed initial era of the development of society, depicted either as a state of war of all against all (T. Hobbes), or as an idyllic state of unlimited freedom and universal equality (J. J. ... ... Explanatory Dictionary of Sociology
Natural State- see State of Nature... Philosophical Dictionary of Sponville
NATURAL STATE- (state of nature) see Locke ... Big explanatory sociological dictionary
natural state- ♦ (ENG natural condition) (lat. status naturalium) the situation of people in the absence of Divine grace ... Westminster Dictionary of Theological Terms
Natural (Natural) State- Natural ((Natural) State ♦ État de Nature The position of human beings before the establishment of common power, common laws, even before the emergence of social life. A purely hypothetical state, apparently unsatisfactory ... Philosophical Dictionary of Sponville
- (Latin jus naturale, French droit naturel, German Naturrecht) - a concept contained in the dobourg. and bourgeois philosophical and political doctrines of an ideal legal code, which is allegedly prescribed by nature itself and imprinted in man. mind. For theories... Philosophical Encyclopedia
NATURAL LAW- [lat. jus naturale], a concept used in political and legal theories to refer to a set of fundamental principles and rights that do not depend on social conditions and stem from the very nature of man. In theistic theories, E. p. his ... ... Orthodox Encyclopedia
Rocks (a. rock natural state of stress; n. naturlicher Spannungszustand der Gesteine, Spannungszustand im unverritzten Gebirge; f. etat naturel de contraintes du massif; i. estado de tension natural de las rocas) set ... ... Geological Encyclopedia
Books
- The Biology of Enlightenment, U. Krishnamurti. Unpublished Conversations with U. G. Krishnamurti - After He Entered the State of Nature (1967-1971). W. G. Krishnamurti (1918-2007) - the most radical and shocking teacher, not ...
Hobbes begins his research with finding out what a person is, what is his essence. Man in Hobbes appears in two guises - as a natural (natural) individual and as a member of the community - a citizen. A person can be in a natural or social (civil, state) state. Hobbes does not directly speak of the existence of two types of morality, but he speaks of morality and the concepts of good and evil in connection with the natural state and in connection with the civil state, and shows that the differences between his characteristics of morality are essentially different. What characterizes the state of nature? - This is a state in which the natural equality of people is manifested. Of course, Hobbes cannot fail to see individual differences, both physical and mental; however, in the general mass, these differences are not so significant that it would be impossible in principle to speak of the equality of people. Equality of ability gives rise to equality of hopes for achieving goals. However, limited resources do not allow everyone to equally satisfy their needs. This is where the rivalry between people comes in. Constant rivalry breeds distrust between them. No one, possessing something, can be sure that his property and he himself will not become the subject of someone's militant claims. As a result, people experience fear and enmity towards each other. To ensure his own security, everyone strives to increase his power and strength and to ensure that others value him as he values himself. At the same time, no one wants to show respect for another, so that the latter is not taken as an expression of weakness.
All these features of the life of people in the state of nature, namely: rivalry, mistrust and the thirst for glory - turn out to be the cause of the constant war of all against all. Hobbes interprets war in the broad sense of the word - as the absence of any security guarantees; war "is not only a battle, or military action, but a period of time during which the will to fight through battle clearly manifests itself."
In the state of nature, relations between people are expressed in the formula: "man to man is a wolf." Citing this formula, Hobbes emphasizes that it characterizes relations between states, in contrast to the other - "man to man - God", which characterizes relations between citizens within the state. However, as can be judged from "Human Nature", where Hobbes represents all human passions through the allegory of a race, both in a social and natural state, the principle "man to man is a wolf" is always present in relations between people to the extent that distrust and malice are the motives of human actions. The state of nature as a state of war is characterized by another feature: there are no concepts of just and unjust - "where there is no common power, there is no law, and where there is no law, there is no injustice." Justice is not a natural quality of a person, it is a virtue that is affirmed by people themselves in the process of their self-organization. Laws and conventions are the real basis ("reason," as Hobbes says in places) for the distinction between justice and injustice. In the state of nature, there is generally "nothing obligatory, and everyone can do what he personally considers good." In this state, people act on the principle of liking or disliking, wanting or not wanting; and their personal inclinations turn out to be the real measure of good and evil.
Natural law. In the state of nature, the so-called natural law (right of nature, jus naturale) operates. Hobbes insists on separating the concepts of "right", which means only the freedom of choice, and "law", which means the need to act in a certain established way. The law thus points to an obligation; freedom is on the other side of obligation. Obviously, this is not a liberal understanding of freedom, rights and obligations. Natural law, according to Hobbes, is expressed in "the freedom of each person to use his own forces at his own discretion to preserve his own nature, i.e. his own life." According to natural law, everyone acts in accordance with his desires and everyone decides for himself what is right and what is wrong. "Nature has given everyone the right to everything." According to Hobbes, people are born absolutely equal and free, and in natural state everyone is entitled to everything. Therefore, the state of nature is defined as "the war of all against all." After all, if every person has the right to everything, and the abundance around us is limited, then the rights of one person will inevitably collide with the same rights of another.
The state of nature is opposed to the state (civil status), the transition to which is due to the instinct of self-preservation and a reasonable desire for peace. The desire for peace, according to Hobbes, is the main natural law.
Only force can turn natural laws into an imperative, i.e. state. The state arises in two ways: as a result of violence and as a result of the social contract. Hobbes gives preference to the contractual origin of the state, calling such states political. By concluding a social contract among themselves, people alienate all their natural rights in favor of the sovereign. Hobbes considers it possible to draw an analogy between the state and a machine, an "artificial body", which is created by man to save his life. The state is, according to Hobbes, a "mechanical monster" with extraordinary and terrible power: it can protect the interests of the individual, the interests of parties and a large social group.
Hobbes considers the state as the result of an agreement between people that put an end to the natural pre-state state of "the war of all against all." He adhered to the principle of the original equality of people. Individual citizens have voluntarily restricted their rights and freedom in favor of the state, whose task is to ensure peace and security. Hobbes extols the role of the state, which he recognizes as absolute sovereign. On the question of the forms of the state, Hobbes' sympathies are on the side of the monarchy. Defending the need for the subordination of the church to the state, he considered it necessary to preserve religion as an instrument of state power to curb the people.
Hobbes believed that the very life of a person, his well-being, strength, the rationality of the political life of society, the common good of people, their consent, which constitutes the condition and "health of the state" depend on the activities of the state; its absence leads to the "disease of the state", civil wars or even the death of the state. Hence Hobbes concludes that all people are interested in a perfect state. According to Hobbes, the state arose as a result of a social contract, an agreement, but, having arisen, it separated from society and obeys the collective opinion and will of people, having an absolute character. The concepts of good and evil are distinguished only by the state, while a person must obey the will of the state and recognize as bad what the state recognizes as bad. At the same time, the state should take care of the interests and happiness of the people. The state is called upon to protect citizens from external enemies and maintain internal order; it should give citizens the opportunity to increase their wealth, but within safe limits for the state.
Thomas Hobbes(1588-1679) - English materialist philosopher. His main works are "The Philosophical Principle of the Doctrine of the Citizen" (1642) "Leviathan, or Matter, Form and Power of the Church and Civil State" (1658). In his works, Hobbes likened the state to a mechanism, and also used organic analogy and mathematical analysis as methods for studying political and legal issues. According to Hobbes, people are born absolutely equal and free, and in natural state everyone is entitled to everything. Therefore, the state of nature is defined as "the war of all against all." After all, if every person has the right to everything, and the abundance around us is limited, then the rights of one person will inevitably collide with the same rights of another. The state of nature is opposed to the state (civil status), the transition to which is due to the instinct of self-preservation and a reasonable desire for peace. The desire for peace, according to Hobbes, is the main natural law. Only force can turn natural laws into an imperative, i.e. state. The state arises in two ways: as a result of violence and as a result of the social contract. Hobbes gives preference to the contractual origin of the state, calling such states political. By concluding a social contract among themselves, people alienate all their natural rights in favor of the sovereign. sovereign(one person or a meeting of people) is not bound by any contract and does not bear any responsibility to the people. The power of the state, from the point of view of Hobbes, must be absolute and indivisible. "To divide the power of the state means to destroy it, since the divided powers mutually destroy each other." The people have no right to change the form of government and criticize the sovereign. The sovereign, in turn, is not punishable and has supreme legislative, executive and judicial power. The sovereign is limited only by the limits of divine will and natural law. But, nevertheless, Hobbes leaves the individual the opportunity to resist the will of the sovereign. This opportunity is the right to revolt. It opens only when the sovereign, contrary to natural laws, obliges the individual to kill or maim himself or forbids defending himself from the attack of enemies. The protection of one's own life is based on the highest law of all nature - the law of self-preservation. The sovereign has no right to transgress this law. Otherwise, he risks losing power. Hobbes establishes three forms of the state: monarchy, aristocracy and democracy; for state power can belong to one person or a council of many (monarchy - when one rules, and everyone obeys him; aristocracy - a group of people rules; democracy - when everyone rules). Accordingly, the council of many people consists either of all citizens, so that any of them has the right to vote and can participate, if he wants, in the discussion of affairs, or only from a part of them. Tyranny and oligarchy are not separate forms of state power, but only other names of the same types - names that express our negative attitude towards each of these forms. The best form in terms of achieving the means for which state power exists is, according to the philosopher, monarchy. "Those who have experienced resentment under the monarchy call it tyranny, and those who are dissatisfied with the aristocracy call it oligarchy." However, Hobbes prefers absolute monarchy. The king, whose power is limited, is not higher than the one who has the right to limit this power, and, therefore, this king is not a sovereign. Only an absolutely unlimited king, whose power is transmitted only by inheritance, can be considered a sovereign.
According to Hobbes, the life of people in the "state of nature" was "lonely, poor, unpleasant, cruel and short". Hobbes considered a normal, healthy state to be one in which the right of a person to life, security, justice and prosperity are ensured. People in the "state of nature" were apolitical and asocial. According to Thomas Hobbes, human life would be "dangerous, cruel and short" without political power.
He associated the cause of the emergence of political power and the state with nature, human qualities. People, being in a state of nature, because of their egoistic passions, are not able to preserve peace, they face the threat of mutual destruction. Hobbes developed the idea of legitimizing and justifying the state through reason and consciousness with the help of the concept of the contractual origin of political power.
The basis of the state lies in the reasonable desire of people for self-preservation and security. Such an agreement or such a transfer of rights is the formation of a state. Thus, the contract as the basis for the emergence of the state in the theory of Hobbes is a kind of consent of the subject, recognizing political power. Thus, relations of domination and subordination arise, i.e. political state.
1. Political and legal doctrine of Hobbes
From this point of view, the qualities of political power, its rights and abilities were determined. The social contract and the civil rights thus obtained are not natural rights, they are not fixed forever. In other words, the people, that is, individuals, are independent. Grotius said that people sui juris (lat. - on their own behalf) - in their own power. The first philosopher to articulate a detailed theory of the social contract was Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679).
See what the "NATURAL STATE" is in other dictionaries:
It was a state where self-interest, lack of rights and agreements hindered the development of society. Life was "anarchic" - without control and sovereignty. This state of nature results in the emergence of a social contract.
Hobbes T. Origin, essence, purpose, forms of the state. The doctrine of state sovereignty.
Thus society was no longer in a state of anarchy. All states were in conflict because there was no sovereign from above (that is, more powerful) capable of establishing the laws of social contract among states. In fact, Hobbes' work provided the basis for the realist theories of international relations advanced by Edward Harlet Carr and Hans Morgenthau.
Although Rousseau wrote that perhaps at that time the British were the freest people on earth, he did not approve of their representative government. Some supporters of the social contract theory argue that a person is obliged to adhere to this very "social contract" while remaining within the state. Another way of looking at this issue is that a treaty is something that is accepted voluntarily.
And the risk to life by which human reality "comes into the light" is a risk in the name of such a desire. Our subsequent references to Hegel are, c. essence, references to Hegel-Kozhev, and we will be more interested in the ideas themselves than the philosophers who first formulated them.
For those early modern philosophers who were the forerunners of Hegel, the question of human nature was presented as a description of the First Man, that is, man "in the state of nature."
For him, man is free and indeterminate, and therefore is able to create his own nature during historical time. And yet this process of historical self-creation has a starting point, which in all respects can be considered a doctrine of the state of nature.
In other words, from the very beginning, man has been a social being: his own sense of self-worth and identity is closely related to the assessment that others assign to him. But Hegel's "first man" differs from the animal in another, much more fundamental sense. And what makes up the identity of a person as a person, the most fundamental and unique property of a person, is the ability of a person to risk his own life.
New Philosophical Encyclopedia
It can lead to the death of both fighters, as a result of which life itself, natural and human, ends. By this definition, a stone rolling down a mountain and a hungry bear roaming the forest without a leash can be called "free". By definition of Hobbes, any person whose actions are not hindered by physical restrictions will be considered "free".
Hobbes' great political work, Leviathan, begins precisely with this description of man as an incredibly complex machine. Thus, it turns out that ultimately Hobbes does not believe that a person is free in the sense of having the possibility of moral choice. He may be more or less rational in his behavior, but this rationality simply serves the ultimate goals set by nature, such as self-preservation.
Not only is man not determined by his animal or physical nature, but the very essence of man consists in the ability to overcome or abolish animal nature. For, risking his life, a person proves that he can act contrary to the strongest and most basic instinct - the instinct of self-preservation. The reason I fight is to force the other to accept the fact that I am willing to risk my life, and because of this I am a free and authentic person.
The state, he believed, arises on the basis of an agreement. The halo of mysticism was removed from the state; it came to be regarded as one of the many results of legal agreement, the contract, as a product of human actions. Another system-forming feature of the state, singled out by Hobbes, is political power, organized as a single entity. The one who is the bearer of political power is called the sovereign, he is said to have supreme power, and everyone else is his subject.
Under these conditions, a person's actions are connected only with his personal power, limited by conscience and without opposition. And above all, he desires the desires of other people - that is, he wants others to recognize him.
