The state of nature: the meanings and promise of a legal fiction, with Mark Somos

In this seminar Mark Somos (Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Fellow and Senior Research Affiliate at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, @msomos) assesses the status of the state of nature idea, arguing that it is neither straightforwardly historical nor merely hypothetical, but a legal fiction. The talk engages both his monograph American States of Nature: The Origins of Independence, 1761–1775 (Oxford, 2019) and the volume, co-edited with Anne Peters, The State of Nature: Histories of an Idea (Brill, 2021). The talk is followed by Q&A which ranges over issues including the ideological uses of the state of nature and its rhetorical power.

A video version of the seminar is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJJkakNU4JQ&ab_channel=SocialContractResearchNetwork

The seminar took place over Zoom on 26 July 2022, and was hosted by Christopher Watkin (Monash University), as part of the Australian Research Council funded Future Fellowship project "Rewriting the Social Contract: Technology, Ecology, Extremism". This seminar is an initiative of the Social Contract Research Network. To find out more about the SCRN, and to subscribe to email updates, please visit https://www.monash.edu/arts/languages-literatures-cultures-linguistics/social-contract-research-network

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