<P> Hume's ideas about human nature expressed in the Treatise suggest that he would be happy with neither Hobbes' nor his contemporary Rousseau's thought - experiments . He explicitly derides as incredible the hypothetical humanity described in Hobbes' Leviathan . Additionally, he argues in "Of the Origin of Justice and Property" that if mankind were universally benevolent, we would not hold Justice to be a virtue: "' tis only from the selfishness and confin'd generosity of men, along with the scanty provision nature has made for his wants, that justice derives its origin ." </P> <P> John C. Calhoun, in his Disquisition on Government, (1850) wrote that a state of nature is merely hypothetical and argues that the concept is self - contradictory and that political states naturally always existed . "It is, indeed, difficult to explain how an opinion so destitute of all sound reason, ever could have been so extensively entertained,...I refer to the assertion, that all men are equal in the state of nature; meaning, by a state of nature, a state of individuality, supposed to have existed prior to the social and political state; and in which men lived apart and independent of each other...But such a state is purely hypothetical . It never did, nor can exist; as it is inconsistent with the preservation and perpetuation of the race . It is, therefore, a great misnomer to call it the state of nature . Instead of being the natural state of man, it is, of all conceivable states, the most opposed to his nature--most repugnant to his feelings, and most incompatible with his wants . His natural state is, the social and political--the one for which his Creator made him, and the only one in which he can preserve and perfect his race . As, then, there never was such a state as the, so called, state of nature, and never can be, it follows, that men, instead of being born in it, are born in the social and political state; and of course, instead of being born free and equal, are born subject, not only to parental authority, but to the laws and institutions of the country where born, and under whose protection they draw their first breath ." </P> <P> John Rawls used what amounted to an artificial state of nature . To develop his theory of justice, Rawls places everyone in the original position . The original position is a hypothetical state of nature used as a thought experiment development to Rawls' theory of justice . People in the original position have no society and are under a veil of ignorance that prevents them from knowing how they may benefit from society . They lack foreknowledge of their intelligence, wealth, or abilities . Rawls reasons that people in the original position would want a society where they had their basic liberties protected and where they had some economic guarantees as well . If society were to be constructed from scratch through a social agreement between individuals, these principles would be the expected basis of such an agreement . Thus, these principles should form the basis of real, modern societies since everyone should consent to them if society were organized from scratch in fair agreements . </P> <P> Rawls' Harvard colleague Robert Nozick countered the liberal A Theory of Justice with the libertarian Anarchy, State, and Utopia, also grounded in the state of nature tradition . Nozick argued that a minimalist state of property rights and basic law enforcement would develop out of a state of nature without violating anyone's rights or using force . Mutual agreements among individuals rather than social contract would lead to this minimal state . </P>

What did enlightenment thinkers believe about man and the state of nature