4. And so by natural right I understand the very laws or rules of
nature, in accordance with which everything takes place, in other words,
the power of nature itself. And so the natural right of universal
nature, and consequently of every individual thing, extends as far as
its power: and accordingly, whatever any man does after the laws of his
nature, he does by the highest natural right, and he has as much right
over nature as he has power.
5. If then human nature had been so constituted, that men should live
according to the mere dictate of reason, and attempt nothing
inconsistent therewith, in that case natural right, considered as
special to mankind, would be determined by the power of reason only. But
men are more led by blind desire, than by reason: and therefore the
natural power or right of human beings should be limited, not by reason,
but by every appetite, whereby they are determined to action, or seek
their own preservation. I, for my part, admit, that those desires, which
arise not from reason, are not so much actions as passive affections of
man. But as we are treating here of the universal power or right of
nature, we cannot here recognize any distinction between desires, which
are engendered in us by reason, and those which are engendered by other
causes; since the latter, as much as the former, are effects of nature,
and display the natural impulse, by which man strives to continue in
existence. For man, be he learned or ignorant, is part of nature, and
everything, by which any man is determined to action, ought to be
referred to the power of nature, that is, to that power, as it is
limited by the nature of this or that man.
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