Nature and Purpose of State | Political Organization

Running head: NATURE AND PURPOSE OF STATE
Nature and Purpose of State
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NATURE AND PURPOSE OF STATE
1
Traditionally, state is defined as the political organization of the society. It is an
identifiable political entity, typically established as a centralized organization. It is distinguished
from the other existing social groups on the merit of its purpose—the establishment and retention
of security and order within the designated territory. However, there is no universally accepted
definition of state as a body polity. Philosophers and scholarly thinkers have been dwelling on
the notion of state as a political organization since antiquity1.
The most significant discourses on state can be found in the works of Thomas Hobbes,
John Lock and Jean Jacques Rousseau. All of them developed their critique of state based on the
social contract theory, although their views regarding the nature and purpose of the state differ
from each other. The social contract theory was originally introduced by Ancient Greek
philosopher Socrates’ argument, which indicates that the political state is a result of human
individuals’ moral or political obligations, more specifically it is dependent upon an agreement
or contract among common people to form a regulated, civil society to live within. However,
during the Enlightenment period, the theory was further extended to justify the legitimacy and
authority of political state over the individuals. In the modern social and political philosophy, the
idea of social contract theory is first expounded and defended by Thomas Hobbes.
According to Hobbes’ famous exposition of the ‘state of nature’, described the primitive
human individuals as essentially brutish, nasty, solitary and cruel. Without a proper political
order and legal regulation, Hobbes opined, every individual would possess an unlimited freedom
to do as they please. This amount of natural freedom has the potential to kill, plunder or rape,
creating a continuous threat to everyone. As Hobbes describes, such limitless freedom would
facilitate an endless war of all against all (bellum omnium contra omnes). To mitigate such
1 Bird, Colin. An introduction to political philosophy. Cambridge University Press, 2019.