As a living being, a human being can indeed be subdued — that is, his physical and otherwise external side can be brought under the power of others — but the free will as such cannot be coerced (§ 5), except insofar as he himself does not withdraw from the externality in which he is held fast, or from the representation of it (§ 7). Only he can be coerced into something who wills to let himself be coerced.