The State of Nature in Comparative Political thoughten
This book addresses a fundamental concept in political thought the state of nature through a comparative and cross cultural approach Western social contract thinking usually falls along lines identified with scholars like Hobbes or Rousseau with accordant debate over whether humans are good bad or just selfish conflict prone or cooperative egocentric or altruistic with subordinate discussions about the proper limits of sovereign authority Depending on how one views the natural condition of human beings and the communities which they build various questions arise What constitutes a good or natural political order What is the best basis for understanding the nature of sovereignty or political legitimacy and what is its future In an age of increased global interaction and potential cultural civilization based misunderstanding this volume takes the Hobbesian rhetorical device of a pre social contract state of nature and seeks to address this concept and thereby many of the aforementioned questions in light of contributions from non Western thinkers In our globalizing age when cultures and peoples increasingly talk and interact it is not viable to use only Western political thinkers to address allegedly universal concepts So we overtly seek to break open the frame of reference for any future discussion of the state of nature This volume adds to the emerging body of work grouped under the heading comparative political thought and serves as a model for how key political concepts may be addressed in a comparative and cross civilizational manner Chapters engage Chinese Indic Polynesian Jewish Babylonian and Islamic interpretations of this fundamental question of politics In addressing competing interpretations of the state of nature the exclusionary hegemonic aspects of the Western canon may be both exposed and potentially reconciled with alternative visions of political behavior legitimacy justice rights and appropriate social and political behavior The State of Nature in Comparative Political Thought Western and Non Western Perspectives Global Encounters Studies in Comparative Political Theory.
