The State of Nature and the Shaping of Modernity

Tracing the Roots of Colonialism, Secularity, and Ecology

Inbunden, Engelska, 2025

AvChristopher Watkin,Victoria ) Watkin, Christopher (Monash University

1 879 kr

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The state of nature is a powerful idea at the heart of the fragmented and sometimes conflicting stories the modern West tells about itself. It also makes sense of foundational Western commitments to equality and accumulation, freedom and property, universality and the individual. By exploring the social and cultural imaginaries that emerge from the distinct and often contradictory accounts of the state of nature in the writing of Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau, The State of Nature and the Shaping of Modernity offers a fresh perspective on some of the most pressing debates of our time, showing how the state of nature idea provides a powerful lens through which to focus the complex forces shaping today's political and cultural landscape. It also explores how ideas about human nature and origins drive today's debates about colonialism, secularism, and the environment, and how they can shed new light on some of society's most heated debates.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum2025-12-18
Mått157 x 235 x 27 mm
Vikt656 g
FormatInbunden
SpråkEngelska
Antal sidor378
FörlagCambridge University Press
ISBN9781009670463

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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)