Table of Contents

Introduction: Comparative States of Nature
Russell Arben Fox

Part One: The State of Nature and Applications in Chinese Thought

Chapter 1. Self-Transformation and Civil Society: Lockean vs. Confucian
Sungmoon Kim, City University of Hong Kong

Chapter 2. Han Feizi’s Philosophical Psychology: Human Nature, Scarcity, and the
NeoDarwinian Consensus
Owen Flanagan and Jing Hu, Duke University

Chapter 3. The Confucian Tradition, Nature, and Civil Education
Russell Arben Fox, Friends University

Chapter 4. States of Nature: Counter-Confucianism and the Daoist Encounter with Liberalism
Eric Goodfield, American University, Beirut

Chapter 5. Mozi, Hobbes, Locke and the State of Nature
Al Martinich and Siwing Tsoi, University of Texas

Chapter 6. Chinese Sage Kings and the Hobbesian State of Nature: Bridging Comparative
Political Thought and International Relations Theory
Jon D. Carlson, University of California, Merced

Part Two: The State of Nature in Islam, India and Beyond

Chapter 7. States of Nature and Islands of Politics: Animality, Death, Colonialism
Murad Idris, Penn University, Cornell University

Chapter 8. Ibn Khaldoun: Writing from the Margin—‘The State of Nature’—To Remain There.
Magid Shihade, Birzeit University

Chapter 9. The State of Nature and Domesticated Differences in Ancient Indian Political
Thought: A Historical-Comparative Approach
Stuart Gray, University of California, Santa Barbara, Johns Hopkins University

Chapter 10. On Mātsyanyāya: The State of Nature in Indian Thought (from Asian Philosophy)
David Slakter, University of Central Oklahoma

Chapter 11. I'd Rather Just Devolve, Thank You: Enkidu, Gilgamesh, and an Ambiguous State
of Nature
Stefan Dolgert, Brock University

Chapter 12. The Problem of the State of Nature in Medieval Jewish Political Philosophy
Abraham Melamed, University of Haifa

Chapter 13. The Nature of the State without the State of Nature: Micronesia and Polynesia
Michael Stoil, University of Guam

Conclusion. States of Nature: Consilience, Syncretism, and Challenges for Comparative Political Thought
Jon D. Carlson, University of California, Merced

About the Author

Jon D. Carlson is a lecturer in social sciences, humanities, and arts at the University of California, Merced. His recent works include Myths, State Expansion and the Birth of Globalization and a co-edited volume Maritime Piracy and the Construction of Global Governance.

Russell Arben Fox is professor of political science and director of the Political Science Program at Friends University.

Reviews

In this collection there are some fine individual essays which have important lessons for comparative political thought . . . so too does the volume as a whole.
*History of Political Thought*

This book draws together an admirably extensive range of contributors to broaden and complicate the 'state of nature,' a concept which plays a pivotal role in Euro-American political theory. Chapters attempt to move beyond simplistic East versus West comparisons, to consider deeper questions in culturally diverse settings about the relationship of politics to conceptions of nature, society, and religion. The arguments in this book are sure to be controversial, but they draw much-needed attention to important political ideas from a diverse set of places and times.
*Leigh Jenco, London School of Economics and Political Science*

This excellent, timely, and erudite collection of essays successfully demonstrates the significance and necessity of adopting a comparative perspective in western political theory. Thematic focus of the volume, on notions of the natural condition of mankind across cultures and civilizations, presents compelling reasons for political theorists and social scientists alike to revisit, re-contextualize, and renew existing understandings of the political.
*Hassan Bashir, Texas A&M University at Qatar*