The State of Nature and the Shaping of Modernity

Associate Professor of French and Francophone Studies at Monash University, Melbourne, Australia, Christopher Watkin is the author of French Philosophy Today (2016), Michel Serres: Figures of Thought (2020) and the multi-award winning Biblical Critical Theory (2022). He convenes the Social Contract Research Network, and edits the 'Crosscurrents' series with Edinburgh University Press.

• Introduction: the state of nature we're in; Part I. Making Sense of the State of Nature: 1. What is the state of nature?; 2. The imaginary worlds of the state of nature; 3. The theoretical figures of the state of nature; Part II. Making Sense Through the State of Nature: 4. Colonial imaginaries of the state of nature; 5. Secular imaginaries of the state of nature; 6. Ecological imaginaries of the state of nature; Conclusion: Making sense; Bibliography.

'This is the most meticulous, comprehensive, imaginative and accessible treatment of the state of nature that I have come across. Professor Watkin provides a reliable and generative guide to the past, present, and future potential of a topic that is central to social theory, intellectual history, and constitutional and international law.' Mark Somos, Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law and author of American States of Nature: The Origins of Independence, 1761-1775 (OUP, 2019)