What do we mean when we talk about the State of Nature debate? What are the differences between political thinkers such as Thomas Hobbes, John Locke and Jean Jacques Rousseau?

We will consider the relationship between assumptions about the State of Nature debate and the beliefs of Liberals, Conservatives and Socialists and explore how there remains a ‘direct line’ between philosophical assumptions about what human beings are ‘like’ within the ‘State of Nature’ and the policies that ideologies claim necessary for a ‘good society’.