  Pascal's political theory was likewise dictated by his account of human concupiscence. According to Fragment 90 of the Pensées, “concupiscence and force are the sources of all our actions. Concupiscence causes voluntary actions, and force causes those that are involuntary” (II, 570). Although the state of nature before the Fall of Adam was capable of guiding human behaviour, human relations are now completely compromised by concupiscence and by the exercise of power by one person over another. One inevitable effect of this unwelcome subservience is that we are coerced into obeying those who exercise political power over us, and this can be interpreted as punishment for our sinful condition. This pessimistic interpretation of political power and its a possible abuse coincided with that of Luther and Calvin. The Trois Discours sur la condition des grands distinguishes between natural gifts or abilities, which vary from one individual to another and may provide a basis for our esteem, and variations in social status or political power, which result from human contingency and require only that we obey and salute those who happen to be our superiors (II, 194–9). The natural equality of human beings that is implicit in this analysis, however, provides no basis for any theory of justice which would justify opposition to an established civil society or government, no matter how tyrannical it may be (Bove et al., 2007: pp. 295 ff). In fact, there is no independent perspective available to corrupt human beings from which one may query whether the laws of a country are just; they are just, by definition, simply because they are the laws. “Justice is what is established; thus all our established laws will necessarily be accepted as just without being examined, because they are established” (Fragment 545: II, 776). A more extreme expression of the same view, in the Pensées, is that “justice, like finery, is dictated by fashion” (Fragment 57; II, 562).