A History of Pali Literature v1.c2.4

v1.c2.4

The thinkers of the Enlightenment were not in agreement as to the nature of this state. For some, like Rousseau, it was a state of innocence and happiness, a state from which man had fallen through the development of reason and the arts. For others, like Hobbes, it was a state of war, a state of "nasty, brutish, and short" life, from which man had to be rescued by the creation of a sovereign power. But for all of them, the state of nature was the starting point of their inquiry. It was the laboratory in which they tested their theories of human nature and of the origin of society.