State of Nature
Before government, are we free, fearful, equal, violent—or all four at once? The “state of nature” is philosophy’s most durable experiment in imagining what kind of creatures we are when law falls away, and what powers a government can legitimately claim in response.
Quick Facts
- Period
- 1601 – 1800
- Region
- Europe
- Key Figures
- David Hume, Jean Bodin, Jean-Jacques Rousseau +3 more
Key Figures
David Hume
Critic
Scottish EnlightenmentDavid Hume was not a commentator on al-Ghazali in any direct historical sense, and he did not shape al-Ghazali’s thought...
Jean Bodin
Interlocutor
Early modern sovereignty theoryJean Bodin matters here because Hobbes did not invent sovereignty out of nothing; he inherited a Europe already strainin...
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Proponent
French Enlightenment and social contract theoryJean-Jacques Rousseau stands as one of Augustine’s most consequential secular heirs because he inherits the confessional...
John Locke
Proponent
Liberal political philosophyJohn Locke’s theory of consciousness was not born in a vacuum of abstract reflection; it emerged from a life shaped by i...
Samuel Pufendorf
Developer
Natural law theorySamuel Pufendorf occupies a crucial position between Hobbes and Locke, and he deserves more attention than he usually ge...
Thomas Hobbes
Originator
Early modern political philosophyThomas Hobbes is one of the great architects of modern political fear: a thinker who looked at human beings and saw, ben...
The Story
This narrative combines documented history with dramatized scenes for storytelling purposes.
The World That Made It
The state of nature did not begin as a picturesque scene of naked people in a forest. It emerged from a century in which Europe had seen civil war, confessional...
The Central Idea
The state of nature is a thought experiment before it is a theory. It asks us to imagine human beings without a common political authority—without courts, polic...
The System
Once the state of nature is proposed, it cannot remain a single picture. It generates a system: a set of distinctions about law, obligation, property, punishmen...
Tensions & Critiques
The state of nature was almost born to be attacked. Its power lies in abstraction, but abstraction invites suspicion: is it describing human beings or inventing...
Legacy & Echoes
The state of nature survived because later thinkers discovered that it could do more than its authors intended. It became a moving target: a way to justify sove...
Timeline
Birth of Jean Bodin
**1530** — Bodin was born in France during a period of religious and political strain. His later theorization of sovereignty helped make it possible for early modern thinkers to imagine a single, final authority as the answer to civil disorder.
Bodin publishes The Six Books of the Commonwealth
**1576** — Bodin's account of sovereignty as supreme and indivisible power became a major precursor to later early modern theories of political order. It supplied conceptual tools that Hobbes would radicalize in a more systematic defense of absolute authority.
Birth of Thomas Hobbes
**1588** — Hobbes was born in the year of the Spanish Armada, a coincidence later readers have treated as emblematic of an age of political conflict. His life would be shaped by the civil disturbances that gave urgency to his question about order without government.
Publication of Leviathan
**1651** — Hobbes published Leviathan after the English Civil Wars, making the state of nature central to modern political philosophy. The work argues that absent a common power, human beings face insecurity and mutual fear, and that sovereignty is justified as a remedy.
Birth of John Locke
**1632** — Locke was born into the century that would produce the most enduring liberal version of the state of nature. His later arguments would recast prepolitical life as a moral order with rights, not a condition of inevitable war.
Locke's Second Treatise circulates with the post-Revolution settlement
**1689** — The Second Treatise became a key text for understanding government as a trust limited by natural rights. Its account of the state of nature supplied a philosophical foundation for resistance and constitutional limitation.
Birth of Samuel Pufendorf
**1632** — Pufendorf was born in Saxony and became one of the most important natural law theorists of the seventeenth century. His work helped refine the distinction between natural sociability and political order.
Birth of David Hume
**1711** — Hume's later skepticism about origin stories would become one of the most influential critiques of contract theory. He helped shift attention from imagined founding moments to the practical workings of institutions.
Birth of Jean-Jacques Rousseau
**1712** — Rousseau would transform the state of nature into a critique of inequality and dependence. His conjectural history challenged the assumption that society simply improves human beings.
Rousseau's Discourse on Inequality is published
**1755** — This work gave one of the most influential non-Hobbesian accounts of the state of nature, using conjectural history to argue that social institutions deepen inequality and dependence. It reshaped later debates about civilization and freedom.
Hume's critiques of contract and obligation begin to circulate
**1740** — Hume's essays and historical reflections challenged the idea that political authority rests on literal consent from a state of nature. His arguments shifted the discussion toward utility, convention, and practice.
Rawls's A Theory of Justice revives contractual abstraction
**1971** — Rawls did not return to the state of nature, but his original position renewed interest in hypothetical construction as a test of justice. The device's legacy continued in modern theory, now stripped of its older historical claims.
Sources
- primary_textThomas Hobbes, Leviathan
Classic primary text in public-domain English translation; use for Hobbes's state of nature and sovereignty.
- primary_textJohn Locke, Second Treatise of Government
Standard public-domain text for Locke's account of the state of nature, property, and limited government.
- primary_textJean-Jacques Rousseau, Discourse on the Origin and Foundations of Inequality Among Men
Primary text for Rousseau's conjectural state of nature and critique of inequality.
- reference_articleStanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Thomas Hobbes
Reliable scholarly overview of Hobbes's political philosophy and state of nature.
- reference_articleStanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Locke's Political Philosophy
Scholarly overview of Locke's natural law, property, and state of nature.
- reference_articleStanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Contextual scholarly overview of Rousseau's philosophy, including the Discourse on Inequality.
- reference_articleStanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Social Contract Theory
Useful for situating the state of nature within the broader contractarian tradition.
- primary_textDavid Hume, 'Of the Original Contract' in Essays, Moral, Political, and Literary
Important critique of contractarian origin stories.
- scholarly_bookQuentin Skinner, Hobbes and Republican Liberty
Major scholarly treatment of Hobbes and the political context of sovereignty and liberty.
- scholarly_bookA. John Simmons, On the Edge of Anarchy: Locke, Consent, and the Limits of Society
Influential modern study of Locke's state of nature and the problem of consent.
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