JB/015/457/001

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147

Superiority & inferiority suppose each other – neither could have
place without the other.

But superiority & inferiority in order to present a positive idea
to the mind must be associated with some object in itself – a
good – or at all events supposed to be a good, – so as to awaken desire.
The different quantity of that good possessed relatively may be considered
as the different degrees of a scale of superiority or inferiority
with a reference to the particular good in question.

One of the shapes in which superiority presents itself most
obviously to the mind has been already referred to. It is that of power. It is a superiority easily
conceived – early established – & widely spread.

Take for example the dependence of the infant child upon
its mother, – & the power she can exercises over it. It begins with
the child's existence – it is absolute – it is boundless – it even
precedes existence – on the mother the child depends for its
very being.

The power she exercises cannot but be hers. No
child can be born without a mother – the existence of a mother
implies the existence of a determinate child. The mother standing
in the relations of extreme superiority & absolute power over the child
– the child in those of extreme inferiority & absolute dependence
upon the mother.

Of primeval & necessary and absolute superiority the
relation of the mother to the child is far more complete – tho' less
seldom quoted as an example than that of father and son. No
man can with positive, – indisputable, – certainty be known to be the
father of a determinate child. His connection with his supposed or
real offspring is in the very nature of things less intimate.

Identifier: | JB/015/457/001 "JB/" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 15.
Date_1		Marginal Summary Numbering
Box	015	Main Headings	deontology
Folio number	457	Info in main headings field
Image	001	Titles
Category	linking material	Number of Pages	1
Recto/Verso	recto	Page Numbering	f142
Penner	sir john bowring	Watermarks
Marginals		Paper Producer
Corrections		Paper Produced in Year
Notes public		ID Number	5673
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