On the projected surface of economics, man appears as having needs and desires, as seeking to satisfy them, and therefore as having interests, desiring profits, entering into opposition with other men; in short, he appears in an irreducible situation of conﬂict; he evades these conﬂicts, he escapes from them or succeeds indominating them, in finding a solution that will on one level at least, and for a time appease their contradictions; he establishes a body of rules which are both a limitation of the conﬂict and a result of it.