state of nature

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

There are those who think it’s about man in a state of nature, what we are capable of when society is made primal around us.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 9, 2026

Even as he appealed to the state of nature, though, Rousseau questioned whether it could ever be recovered.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 30, 2026

For Hobbes, the state of nature was so violent and chaotic that rational individuals would readily consent to the authority of an absolute monarch to establish law and order.

From Slate • May 9, 2024

Tony Goldner, executive director of the TNFD, said that while the risks of climate change have long been a focus of many companies, the wider state of nature is beginning to be looked at.

From Reuters • Sep. 18, 2023

Society is not a brand-new order of things supervening upon and superseding a state of nature, where the individual was entirely self-supporting.

From Hegel's Philosophy of Mind by Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich