 As Suárez conceives of the basic position of humanity, the inhabitants of a hypothetical pre-political state would have two main reasons to try to transcend it. First, families, the basic unit of human organization, are not self-sufficient: they contain within themselves neither the offices nor the arts necessary for survival. They simply lack the requisite knowledge. Secondly, evoking the idea of a state of war, Suárez argues that if families were divided from one another, peace could hardly be preserved among men, nor could wrongs be duly averted or avenged (Defensio fidei catholicae, et apostolicae adversus anglicanae sectae errores, III.1.4, in Suárez, Opera omnia XXIV). Inhabitants of the pre-political state are thus capable of envisaging a possible political state, in which cooperation between families exists for some common purpose. They can thus realize that power must be vested in one or some individuals because “nobody can be preserved unless there exists some principle whose function is to provide for and seek its common good” (DL III, 1.4–5).