Hypothetical conditions of human life before society
For other uses, see State of Nature.
In ethics, political philosophy, social contract theory, religion, and international law, the term state of nature describes the hypothetical way of life that existed before humans organised themselves into societies or civilizations.[1] Philosophers of the state of nature theory propose that there was a historical period before societies existed, and seek answers to the questions: "What was life like before civil society?", "How did government emerge from such a primitive start?", and "What are the hypothetical reasons for entering a state of society by establishing a nation-state?".
In some versions of social contract theory, there are freedoms, but no rights in the state of nature; and, by way of the social contract, people create societal rights and obligations. In other versions of social contract theory, society imposes restrictions (law, custom, tradition, etc.) that limit the natural rights of a person. Societies existing before the political state are investigated and studied as Mesolithic history, as archaeology, and as cultural anthropology, as social anthropology, and as ethnology to determine the particulars of the indigenous society's social structures and power structures.
^de Vattel, Emer, The Law of Nations, Preliminaries. Idea and General Principles. §4.
theory, religion, and international law, the term stateofnature describes the hypothetical way of life that existed before humans organised themselves...
David Hume's A Treatise of Human Nature (1738–40); however, unlike Hume's view of the is–ought problem, Moore (and other proponents of ethical non-naturalism)...
group) Constituent state, a political subdivision of a state Federated state, constituent states part of a federation Stateofnature, a concept within...
began to look at anarchy in terms of the "stateofnature", a thought experiment used to justify various forms of hierarchical government. By the late...
terrifying anarchy of a stateofnature. Hobbes asserted that humans consent to abdicate their rights in favor of the absolute authority of government (whether...
The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined is a 2011 book by Steven Pinker, in which the author argues that violence in the world has...
human nature, can be deduced and applied independently of positive law (the express enacted laws of a state or society). According to the theory of law...
A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation...
Leviathan also popularized ideas such as the stateofnature ("war of all against all") and laws ofnature. His other major works include the trilogy De...
Nature is an inherent character or constitution, particularly of the ecosphere or the universe as a whole. In this general sense nature refers to the...
conservation and protection of birds and the wider environment through public awareness campaigns, petitions and through the operation ofnature reserves throughout...
original position plays the same role that the "stateofnature" does in the social contract tradition of Thomas Hobbes, and John Locke. The original position...
necessary because the condition of Man in the apolitical stateofnature is a "war of all against all", for which reason the lives of men and women are "solitary...
the atonement, is not, properly speaking, in a stateofnature. He is not left to the unalleviated evils of total depravity. The atonement has not only secured...
conception of a human stateofnature, broadly believed to be a hypothetical thought exercise and of human perfectibility, an early idea of progress. He...
England. Employing the idea of a stateofnature — a hypothetical war-like scenario prior to the state — he constructed the idea of a social contract that...
phrase meaning "the war of all against all", is the description that Thomas Hobbes gives to human existence in the state-of-nature thought experiment that...
minimize conflict between individuals that would otherwise arise in a stateofnature. These beliefs were complemented by a belief that financial incentive...
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