The State of Nature in Comparative Political Thought

Western and Non-Western Perspectives

Edited by Jon D. Carlson and Russell Arben Fox - Contributions by Stefan Dolgert; Owen Flanagan; Eric Goodfield; Stuart Gray; Jing Hu; Murad Idris; Sungmoon Kim; Al Martinich; Abraham Melamed; Magid Shihade; David Slakter; Michael Stoil and Siwing Tsoi

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.

Lexington Books

Pages: 328 • Trim: 6¼ x 9½

978-0-7391-6763-2 • Hardback • November 2013 • $147.00 • (£113.00)

Series: Global Encounters: Studies in Comparative Political Theory

Subjects: Political Science / Comparative Politics, Political Science / History & Theory, Political Science / Political Ideologies / General, Political Science / World / Asian, Philosophy / Political

The State of Nature in Comparative Political Thought

Western and Non-Western Perspectives

Hardback

Summary

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.

Details

Lexington Books

Pages: 328 • Trim: 6¼ x 9½

978-0-7391-6763-2 • Hardback • November 2013 • $147.00 • (£113.00)

Series: Global Encounters: Studies in Comparative Political Theory

Subjects: Political Science / Comparative Politics, Political Science / History & Theory, Political Science / Political Ideologies / General, Political Science / World / Asian, Philosophy / Political

Author

Jon D. Carlson is a lecturer in social sciences, humanities, and arts at the University of California, Merced. His recent works include Myths, State Expansion and the Birth of Globalization and a co-edited volume Maritime Piracy and the Construction of Global Governance.

Russell Arben Fox is professor of political science and director of the Political Science Program at Friends University.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Comparative States of Nature
Russell Arben Fox

Part One: The State of Nature and Applications in Chinese Thought

Chapter 1. Self-Transformation and Civil Society: Lockean vs. Confucian
Sungmoon Kim, City University of Hong Kong

Chapter 2. Han Feizi’s Philosophical Psychology: Human Nature, Scarcity, and the
NeoDarwinian Consensus
Owen Flanagan and Jing Hu, Duke University

Chapter 3. The Confucian Tradition, Nature, and Civil Education
Russell Arben Fox, Friends University

Chapter 4. States of Nature: Counter-Confucianism and the Daoist Encounter with Liberalism
Eric Goodfield, American University, Beirut

Chapter 5. Mozi, Hobbes, Locke and the State of Nature
Al Martinich and Siwing Tsoi, University of Texas

Chapter 6. Chinese Sage Kings and the Hobbesian State of Nature: Bridging Comparative
Political Thought and International Relations Theory
Jon D. Carlson, University of California, Merced

Part Two: The State of Nature in Islam, India and Beyond

Chapter 7. States of Nature and Islands of Politics: Animality, Death, Colonialism
Murad Idris, Penn University, Cornell University

Chapter 8. Ibn Khaldoun: Writing from the Margin—‘The State of Nature’—To Remain There.
Magid Shihade, Birzeit University

Chapter 9. The State of Nature and Domesticated Differences in Ancient Indian Political
Thought: A Historical-Comparative Approach
Stuart Gray, University of California, Santa Barbara, Johns Hopkins University

Chapter 10. On Mātsyanyāya: The State of Nature in Indian Thought (from Asian Philosophy)
David Slakter, University of Central Oklahoma

Chapter 11. I'd Rather Just Devolve, Thank You: Enkidu, Gilgamesh, and an Ambiguous State
of Nature
Stefan Dolgert, Brock University

Chapter 12. The Problem of the State of Nature in Medieval Jewish Political Philosophy
Abraham Melamed, University of Haifa

Chapter 13. The Nature of the State without the State of Nature: Micronesia and Polynesia
Michael Stoil, University of Guam

Conclusion. States of Nature: Consilience, Syncretism, and Challenges for Comparative Political Thought
Jon D. Carlson, University of California, Merced

Reviews

In this collection there are some fine individual essays which have important lessons for comparative political thought . . . so too does the volume as a whole.
— History of Political Thought

This book draws together an admirably extensive range of contributors to broaden and complicate the 'state of nature,' a concept which plays a pivotal role in Euro-American political theory. Chapters attempt to move beyond simplistic East versus West comparisons, to consider deeper questions in culturally diverse settings about the relationship of politics to conceptions of nature, society, and religion. The arguments in this book are sure to be controversial, but they draw much-needed attention to important political ideas from a diverse set of places and times.
— Leigh Jenco, London School of Economics and Political Science

This excellent, timely, and erudite collection of essays successfully demonstrates the significance and necessity of adopting a comparative perspective in western political theory. Thematic focus of the volume, on notions of the natural condition of mankind across cultures and civilizations, presents compelling reasons for political theorists and social scientists alike to revisit, re-contextualize, and renew existing understandings of the political.
— Hassan Bashir, Texas A&M University at Qatar