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I haven't any. But Lord of the Flies is nice as food for thought. Also there's a film based on the book.
by narag 13y ago
I haven't any. But Lord of the Flies is nice as food for thought. Also there's a film based on the book.
- bediger4000 13y agoFiction, both of them. So no references for violence as a default state of society so far, just aphorisms and "common knowledge".
- robotresearcher 13y agoA very influential reference that proposes this idea: "Leviathan", Thomas Hobbes, England, 1651. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leviathan_(book) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leviathan_(book) From the Wikipedia summary: "[The] natural state of man is not to be found in a political community that pursues the greatest good. But to be outside of a political community is to be in an anarchic condition. Given human nature, the variability of human desires, and need for scarce resources to fulfill those desires, the state of nature, as Hobbes calls this anarchic condition, must be a war of all against all. Even when two men are not fighting, there is no guarantee that the other will not try to kill him for his property or just out of an aggrieved sense of honour, and so they must constantly be on guard against one another. It is even reasonable to preemptively attack one's neighbour." The truth of Hobbes' "State of Nature" is still debated, for example in this thread, almost 500 years later. It's a well known idea in philosophy and politics.
- keevie 13y agoHobbes is hugely influential, but the 'truth' of the Hobbesian state of nature isn't debated at all. Political philosophy doesn't take seriously claims about "human nature" like that. Source: studying political theory in college; read leviathan twice.
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