in a state of nature
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Animals living in a state of nature should be granted the same rights and freedoms as their human counterparts.
From Textbooks • Dec. 14, 2022
In 1773, they wrote in what are known as the Sheffield Resolves that “Mankind in a state of nature are equal, free, and independent of each other.”
From Seattle Times • Aug. 20, 2022
In 1977, when power went out for only one summer day in New York, swaths of the city devolved into something like Hobbes’s man in a state of nature.
From The Guardian • Sep. 9, 2017
Then as now, what those avoiding confrontation did not understand is that civility and free expression do not occur in a state of nature: They require ground rules that must be enforced.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 17, 2015
The beasts never indicate shame in a state of nature; in society some of them acquire it; Bonaparte not.
From The International Monthly, Volume 4, No. 1, August, 1851 by Various
