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Philosophy vocabulary · Political Philosophy

State of nature

Meaning in philosophy, with examples

nounCommon term

In philosophy, state of nature means: The imagined condition of human beings living without any government or political authority, used to explain why we need a state.

In Turkish: doğa durumu

How it is used

The starting point of social contract theory. Hobbes pictured it as a war of all against all; Locke saw it as governed by natural law but insecure; Rousseau described people in it as relatively peaceful and independent.

Example sentences

  1. Hobbes thought that life in the state of nature would be violent and short.

  2. Was the state of nature ever a real stage of history, or only a thought experiment?

Common collocations

  • in the state of nature
  • Hobbesian state of nature
  • leave the state of nature
  • law of nature
  • social contractThe idea that political authority or moral rules are justified because rational people would agree, or have agreed, to accept them for mutual benefit.
  • natural rightsRights that people are thought to have simply by being human, before and independently of any law or government.
  • legitimacyThe quality of political power being rightful, so that those who hold it have a genuine right to rule and people have reasons to obey.
  • thought experimentAn imagined scenario used to test a theory or to bring out our intuitions, without carrying out any real experiment.

More terms: Political Philosophy

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