state of nature
Before governments formed
A state of nature is the hypothetical condition of humanity before governments, laws, or social contracts existed.
Philosophers use it to explore questions about human nature and political legitimacy.
Hobbes famously described life in the state of nature as "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short," while Rousseau imagined it more benignly.
Outside philosophy, the phrase can mean a primitive or uncivilized condition, or humorously, nudity: The hikers stumbled upon a man bathing in a state of nature.
- noble savageIdealized primitive innocence
- amour-propreOne's sense of worth
- sovereigntySupreme independent authority
- EmileFrench masculine given name
- libertyAbsence of unjust constraint
absolutism · self · self-preservation · Hobbesian · natural law · Thomas Hobbes · natural rights · Rousseau · political philosophy · subjectivity · autonomy · original · lawless · freedom · innocence · blank slate · primal · law of the jungle
- political philosophypolitical philosophy, political theory, political thought, social contract, natural rights
- enlightenmentVoltaire, Rousseau, Locke, Kant, Montesquieu
- HobbesThomas Hobbes, Leviathan, social contract, sovereign, commonwealth
- LockeJohn Locke, tabula rasa, blank slate, social contract, natural rights
- Rousseausocial contract, Emile, Confessions, noble savage, Julie
- Social Contractsocial contract, consent of governed, natural rights, legitimate authority, Hobbes
state of naturecivil society
Nongovernmental organized citizenry
commonwealth · government · body politic · civil government · rule of law
state of naturecivilization
Advanced organized human society
civil society · social order · modernity · civic order · agrarian society
state, nature, statement, states, stately, statecraft, statewide, statehood, stateliness