Pufendorf: On the Duty of Man and Citizen according to Natural Law

1. What is die character of natural law? What is its necessity? And in what precepts does it consist in die actual condition of mankind? These questions are most clearly answered by a close scrutiny of die nature and character of man. Just as one makes great progress towards an accurate knowledge of civil laws by first achieving a good understanding of the condition of a State and die customs and occupations of its Citizens, so if one first takes a view of the common character and condition of mankind, the laws on which man's security rests will easily become clear.

2. In common with all living things which have a sense of themselves, man holds nothing more dear than himself, he studies in every way to preserve himself, he strives to acquire what seems good to him and to repel what seems bad to him. This passion is usually so strong that all other passions give way before it. And if anyone attempts to attack a man's safety, he cannot fail to repel him, and to repel him so vigorously that hatred and desire for revenge usually last long after he has beaten off the attack.

3. On the other hand man now seems to be in a worse condition than the beasts in that scarcely any other animal is attended from birth with such weakness [imbecillitas]. It would be something of a miracle, if he came through to maturity without the help of other men, since even now when so many things have been discovered to relieve men's needs, a careful training of several years is required to enable a person to get his food and clothing by his own efforts. Let us imagine a man coming to adult years without any care and fostering from other men. He would have no knowledge except what has sprang by a kind of spontaneous generation from his own intelligence. He would be in solitude, destitute of all the help and Company of others.