The States of Nature
Submitted by Jacqueline Laing on Tue, 2011-04-26 21:31
Title | The States of Nature |
Publication Type | Journal Article |
Authors | Zwolinski, M |
Journal | Journal of Value Inquiry |
Abstract | Whatever else might be said about the Lockean and Hobbesian states of nature, it is widely believe that they are mutually incompatible. One or the other (or neither) is a correct way of thinking about the state of nature, but not both. This paper argues that this intuitively plausible claim is incorrect - if not as a matter of textual interpretation, then as a matter of analysis of the concepts that we have inherited from those texts. Not only does it make sense to talk about a Hobbesian and Lockean state of nature existing simultaneously, but doing so allows us to draw important and novel insights about important contemporary questions in political philosophy |