BENEDICT DE SPINOZA: Theological-Political Treatise

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chapter 17
W he re it is show n that no on e c an transfe r all thing s
to the s ove re ig n p owe r, and that it is not n e ce s s ar y
to do s o ; on the characte r of the Heb rew st ate in
the t i me of Mo s e s , and in the p e r io d afte r his
de ath b efore the app oin t me n t of the king s ; on its
excelle nce , and on the re a s ons why this divin e st ate
could perish, and why it could scarcely exist
without sedition
[1] Th e c o n c e ptuali z a t i o n o¡e re d i n t h e p revi o u s c h apte r of t h e r igh t
of sovereign powers to all things and the transfer of each person’s natural
right to them, agrees quite well with practice, and practice can be
brought very close to it, yet in many respects it will always remain
merely theoretical. No one will ever be able to transfer his power and
(consequently) his right to another person in such a way that he ceases
to be a human being; and there will never be a sovereign power that
can dispose of everything just as it pleases. In vain would a sovereign
command a subject to hate someone who had made himself agreeable
by an act of kindness or to love someone who had injured him, or forbid
him to take o¡ence at insults or free himself from fear, or many
other such things that follow necessarily from the laws of human nature.
Experience itself also teaches this very clearly, I think. People have
never given up their right and transferred their power to another in
such a way that they did not fear the very persons who received their
right and power, and put the government at greater risk from its own
citizens (although bereft of their right) than from its enemies. If people
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