o own property, even in a state of nature.
To Hobbes, the state of nature is one in which every individual has the right to take whatever he wants from anybody else. The state of nature is a state of total chaos and insecurity:
The Right of Nature . . . is the Liberty each man hath . . . for the preservation of his own Nature. . . . The condition of Man [in the state of nature] is a condition of War of everyone against everyone. . . . As long as this natural Right of every man to everything endureth, there can be no security to any man ((Hobbes 189-190).
From this dreadful beginning in the state of nature as portrayed by Hobbes, human beings would obviously be fools if they did not do whatever they needed to do to ensure some sort of security. To Hobbes, this meant the establishment of the social contract which would transfer the power and rights of the individuals in society over to the Leviathan.
Locke, on the other hand, pictures a different state of nature. For Locke, human beings are far more knowing of what is right and wrong in the state of nature, based on their ability to reason:
The state of nature has a law . . . and reason, which is that law, teaches all mankind . . . that being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions: for men being all the workmanship of one omnipotent, and infinitely wise make
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