Why Should I Be Govered? State of Nature. The State of Nature according to Rousseau, Locke, Hobbes and Rawls. 2.0 / 5 based on 1 rating ? PhilosophyGovernance and the stateASAll boards Created by: Lewis RyanCreated on: 07-05-12 15:06 Hobbes, State of Nature Believed life in a state of nature is 'nasty, brutish and short'. A state of nature is equivalent to a state of war. This is because we are only interested in ourselves. And this is because we are essentially evil. In a state of nature we have the right to defend ourselves from exploitation, and so our brutality grows. We are all equal in the sense that we are equally capable of killing someone to defend ourselves or to exploit others. To escape this, we commit to a social contract. And so we commit to a social contract out of fear. 1 of 3 Rousseau, State of Nature Rousseau puts forward the concept of the noble savage. In a pre-society, we are innocent, we have no pride and have limited wants. We were savage because we had no laws and that is why we were noble. Society is what corrupts us. We are free and Rousseau agrees with Locke here. He Disagrees with Locke when Locke claims we had rational powers. The noble savge has no concpetion of justice. Evil is simply not a factor. Laws implant temptation towards evil within us. In a State of Nature we are free and naturally good, but we are weak. We moved to a social contract because we, society, felt unfullfilled. 2 of 3 Locke, State of Nature As a pluralist, Locke believes that State of Nature is a state of perfect and complete liberty and freedom. He believes people are essiantally good and moral, the opposite to Hobbes and what he claims. Our morals were implanted within us by God. Property is actually what corrupts us. A state of nature, to Locke, means pre-pollitical and not pre-moral. 3 of 3
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