Example Of Essay On Human Beings And The State Of Nature

When thinking about the state of nature in terms of human society, one thinks about life before the advent of civilization. The state of nature is concerned mostly with wondering how humans lived and survived before it organized itself into groups and worked for a common goal. In many ways, the state of nature is society with a political state, as the social contract would normally dictate rules and laws against what we could do to each other for the sake of survival or power. Humans existing in a state of nature, however, would likely be much more individualistic and considerate only of themselves. Without a government to dictate policy and set up the rule of law, humans would only behave according to their own will, which would naturally gravitate toward the furtherance of themselves and themselves alone.
Judging from these perspectives on the state of nature, I would say that libertarianism is the political system that most closely matches the state of nature. With libertarianism, every man is an island, and self-interest governs above all. There is still somewhat of a social contract with libertarianism, as people must interact with each other in sensible ways in order to build up enough trust to get ahead on their own. However, the essential elements of libertarian thought seem antithetical to the communal goals of public governments and politics. The state of nature rejects law as a means of controlling human beings and limiting their behavior, which is another libertarian ideal – the ability to do what one wants and exact their liberty in a complete and total sense. To that end, libertarians are likely the closest to accepting the state of nature as the desired destiny of man.