Definition of State of Nature

Although each author has characterized in different ways the state of nature as the zero point of social life, two constants remain: traits that are accepted as essential to all men who are born in that condition, namely, they are always considered free and same.

Thomas Hobbes

Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) is considered the author who laid the foundations for modern contractualism. In his work Leviathan, or The Matter, Form, and Power of an Ecclesiastical and Civil State (1651), explains the origin of the republican State as the result of a pact between free and equal men.

The previous stage, which leads natural men to agree among themselves the foundation of a society

politics, is characterized by the fact that each of them has the law to all things. To the extent that all individuals are equal among themselves, they all have the same right to the goods of the community. nature, and therefore when two men desire the same object, it necessarily leads to discord.

The state of nature is marked by a war of all against all, because the most reasonable thing to ensure the security own, when there is no social discretion, is to anticipate the attack before being attacked by others. Every man thus becomes the enemy of other men; so that, in the state of nature, hostility essentially reigns. However, reason also dictates as the ultimate goal that man must seek peace in order to preserve himself, and this means giving up his right to all things - reason for the war of all against all—, Contenting himself as freely against other men as he would consent to them against himself. Then, as soon as all men agree to lay down their right to all things for the sake of peace, and agree to enter the civil societyConsequently, they leave the state of nature.

John Locke

In the Second treatise on Government Civil (1689), John Locke (1632-1704) proposes a characterization of the state of nature that differs substantially from that of Hobbes. From his perspective, it is a state of perfect freedom for each man to order his actions and dispose of the possessions and other people as it deems appropriate, without depending on the will of any other man, but must stick to the law natural.

Being equal, men are allowed to enjoy nature in the same way and make use of the same faculties that God has conferred on them. However, man is not free to destroy himself or any creature in his possession, therefore, when he harms another with respect to his life, his liberty or his possessions, all other men acquire the right to punish him, to preserve the rest of humanity and preserve the security mutual.

The state of nature is not, in itself, a state of war, but of peace; war ensues when the intention to use the strength over other individuals, where there is no common power to turn to. Once a state of war has been established, hostility only ceases when there is a power to appeal to. for the application of laws in an impartial manner, and this is the power of the State, which results from the pact Social.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

In the Discourse on the Origin and the basics of inequality Between the men (1755), Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) proposes a description of the state of nature as a regulatory fiction, which gives us a point of comparison with respect to our current societies.

For Rousseau, the natural man was born free, but growing social inequality throughout history has progressively chained him. In their natural state, men only require themselves to satisfy their needs; but, as soon as they associate, they begin to compete with each other and become slaves to the gaze of others, just as artificial needs multiply that they did not possess before; and these, creating a false comfort, atrophy their original capacities.