β) The substance, in this its actual self-consciousness, knows itself, and is thereby an object of knowing. For the subject, the ethical substance, its laws and powers, have, on the one hand, the relation of an object, in this sense: that they are, in the highest sense of self-subsistence — an absolute authority and power infinitely firmer than the being of nature.

The sun, moon, mountains, rivers — the surrounding natural objects in general — are; for consciousness they have the authority not only of being in general, but also of having a particular nature that consciousness lets stand, conducting its behaviour toward them, its dealings with them, and its use of them accordingly. The authority of the ethical laws is infinitely higher, because natural things represent rationality only in a wholly external and isolated way, and conceal it under the shape of contingency.