224 PHILOSOPHICAL VIEWS AND POLITICAL THEORYabsolute character of supreme sovereignty can only lead to a disintegra-tion of civil order. The government and the laws it administers should
have a common purpose and unity 6f approach. Basically this unity is
ethical: justice on the one hand, the preparation of the Russian
people for the higher goals of being on the other. "And as justice itself
is unlimited, so the power which rests on it is unlimited, otherwise it
would not be a sovereign power. It cannot be the outcome of any con-
tract ... " 1 Laws must be over and above personal interest, never their
instrument. In a well organized state, therefore, a clear and good code
of laws is the best method for attaining the higher spiritual goal of
government.
A primary condition for Speransky's analysis was that the political
system be founded on the true historical traditions of Russia. This did
not mean that he believed in a static conservatism. Like all adherents
of the organic view, he believed in movement, in development and
progress towards a higher goal, beyond this earthly existence. He felt
that Russia's present could not serve as absolute and rigid norm or
standard. However, in seeking the correct path of development, one
should not rely on reason and intellect exclusively. Paralleling the evolu-
tion of his epistemology, Speransky came to believe that the rationalism
and atomism of the 18th century were not adequate. They were too
utilitarian and superficially mechanistic. Interests, at best, should be
used only to progress from lower relative interests to absolute higher
ones. 2 Since the guiding principle should be the unity of life and of
the universe, the standard was to be set by the living being.:3 By
separating, analysing, and dissecting, our minds are killing that which
is alive, and if we were to base our society on the product of the
deadening minds, we should have but dead things. And quite naturally,
Speransky rejects the idea of manufacturing laws. First of all, he is
quite sceptical of the abilities of a group of people to legislate for an
entire country. At best, they will legislate for their exclusive interests.
That was one of the theoretical reasons why he gave no real legislative
power to the Dumas. New legislation should not be resorted to, except
in case of absolute necessity. In particular, inventions in legislation
should not occupy the first, but the fourth place; "In the first place are
existing laws of other countries [presumably tested and hallowed by
experience and history]. One should turn to invention of new laws if
one has first proven 1. that there is no appropriate law or that it is
1 "Pravo verkhovnoe," Pamiati p. 802, also Semevskii, "Iz istorii obshchestvennykh
techenii ... ," loe. cit., p. 270.
2 "Poniatie dobra i pol'zy," loe. cit., p. 565.
3 Spcranskii, "Mysli, zhelaniia, strasti, deianiia," Pamiati, p. 831.