The natural state of man has been a point of agreement for philosophers since the time of the ancient Greeks. Just what is man like when stripped of the veneer of society and culture? The changing conception of the natural state of man will be traced through the Holy Bible, and the writings of Saint Augustine, Thomas Hobbes and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Through these four will also be examined the story of the Fall from the garden of Eden and man's subsequent march through time/history. What shall be discovered is an almost cyclical pattern for the natural state of man with Rousseau's Savage Man inhabiting an environment very much like the paradise of Eden. This cyclical pattern is not however to be found in the reinterpretations of the Fall which run from blaming Adam and Eve for their own expulsion up to blaming God. There is no arguing against the advent and continuation of the linearity of time, but the idea of progress does end up receiving rather different interpretations. Using the Bible as a departure point Augustine tells us that progress has ceased ever since the martyrdom of Christ. Hobbes has progress still going on leading towards the ultimate end of the Leviathan/Commonwealth. For Rousseau progress has led to nothing but misery and ideally he would prefer to see an end or reversal of it and a return to man's natural state even though he himself states that this could never come to pass. It will be these three threads of thought that will be traced through the Holy Bible, Augustine's City of God, Hobbes' Leviathan and Rousseau's Second Discourse.

In the Bible is the story of man's initial creation by God. " And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul (Genesis 2:7)." This of course was Adam of whom God took one of his ribs and "made he a woman, and brought her unto the man (Genesis 2:22)" and this was Eve. The two were to live innocently and forever in the garden paradise of Eden as long as they did not eat the fruit from the tree of knowledge. In Eden every desire could be quickly satisfied as it was abundant with plant and animal life. It then takes less than two pages into the Bible stories for man to prove his inability to remain innocent. The temptation to trespass into a forbidden area to satisfy a desire proved to be too strong to resist. Adam and Eve partook of the fruit from the forbidden tree thus rebelling from God's order and then they had to face the punishment of God. Everlasting life was taken from them and they became mortal as well they were expelled from the garden never to return (Genesis 3:22-23). This is the first of the three Falls of mankind.

Mankind left to its own devices on earth does even worse than Adam and Eve did in the garden. "And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually (Genesis 6:5)." "The earth was also corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence (Genesis 6:11)." For this God flooded the earth wiping out man except for Noah and his family. Again man rose and fell in the eyes of God. Mankind lost its single language and was scattered across the earth for attempting to build the tower of Babel up to the heavens (Genesis 11). These three Falls show man to be rebellious, wicked, violent and possessing an inability to remain innocent in the eyes of God. Adam and Eve's original sin is carried on by all those who followed them for original sin marks the beginning of a pattern which is repeated throughout one's life.

The whole Genesis story is cyclical in nature with a number of repeated tales and themes. It is in primeval or cosmological time as previous Greco-Roman concepts of time were. The Bible does not end in Genesis however and by the next chapter of Exodus a whole new idea of time and progress develops. "In the beginning...(Genesis 1:1)" starts from nothing. God creates nature out of this nothing thus creating a starting point and the germ for a whole new notion of casualty. History/time does not begin with the Fall but it was a necessary first step. Exodus marks the beginning of history as we in the west have come to think of it in it's linear form.

Throughout Exodus God intervenes with casual actions. His will starts to link in with His promises to Abraham. Examples of these interventions include the parting of the Red Sea and the slaughter of the Egyptian army (Exodus 14:28), as well as visible displays such as the mana from heaven, pillar of fire and the burning bush. This is God revealing himself through time, bit by bit.

The Hebrews progressively became a people through their common suffering as they headed for the promised land of Canaan. A collective memory and therefore a history which was linear, not cyclical, was created. Events went forth and the consciousness of the events went forth as well. The pragmatic history of events led to a symbolic history through the interpretation of the events of the past. The culmination of this process comes with the passing down of the ten commandments to Moses (Exodus 20). These gave history a purpose, or end goal, thus firmly establishing the linearity of time. The chosen people were told to keep a written record of their history and to take it with them always along with the ark for the commandments (Exodus 25:10) and the tabernacle (Exodus 26:1). From this point on events happened in a cause/effect pattern which we are familiar with today.

Saint Augustine carried on the beliefs in the corruptibility of man set forth in the Bible. All human beings, according to Augustine, were 'fallen' due to his codification of the doctrine of original sin. Before one has even taken their first breath they have been shackled with sin. Despite this negative view of the species Augustine did believe that inside everything in the imperfect nature is some perfect element: the spark of divinity. This, however, is not enough to save man. Even if one has the finest of intentions or creates the finest of works they are destined to fail and not be saved by God for their activities on earth. Only faith and grace can lead to salvation and even faith does not guarantee it. Due to the inherent wickedness of man there needs to be a form of coercive government to keep things from violent anarchy. All of this stems from the Fall.

The tree of knowledge was man's first test, and man's first failure. Adam and Eve fell into temptation and rebelled against God's directive. Eating the forbidden fruit was man's attempt to play God and it ended in disaster. God had:

created man with such a nature that the members of the

race should not have died, had not the first ( of whom

the one was created out of nothing, and the other out

of him ) merited this by disobedience; for by them so

great a sin was committed that by it human nature was

altered for the worse, and it was transmitted also to

their posterity, liable to sin and subject to death.

(Augustine p200)

Saint Augustine was a believer in the linearity of time/history. however, for him it had already reached it's end as personified by Christ ( the 'logos become flesh'). The end of progress came when Christ suffered and died on the cross, resurrected and appeared before his pupils to reconcile the suffering with the redemption of God's sacrifice of himself for man. Up to this point history had been the creation of human action (political interaction) guided by God. After it progress ceased.

As proof of linearity Augustine wrote that God " caused time to have a beginning; and man whom He had not previously made He made in time (Augustine p244)." Time is not cyclical "for once Christ died for our sins and , rising from the dead, He dieth no more (Augustine p243)."

God will eventually return and redeem nature (abolish death) and history with a return to the garden and the resurrection of the dead for the second coming of Christ. At this time original sin will be forgiven.

The time between the martyrdom of Christ and his second coming is, to Augustine, irrelevant, and there can be no progress. This is due to the earlier stated fact that we are destined to fail at any earthly endeavours to get to heaven. One cannot possibly fathom God's plan so one cannot figure out what is required to be done to get to heaven besides having faith. As progress is therefore impossible, linear history ceases to apply in the interim period awaiting the second coming, the vengeance, and the ascent into the paradise of nature.

Thomas Hobbes starts off with the Biblical/Augustinian belief in man as being wicked and violent but his scientific approach led him to a more developed view of the natural state of man. In this state we are as the animals and are all equal:

Nature hath made men so equal in the faculties of body

and mind as that, though there be found one man some-

times manifestly stronger in body or of quicker mind

than another, yet when all is reckoned together the

difference between man and man is not so considerable...

For as to the strength of body, the weakest has strength

enough to kill the strongest, either by secret machination

, or by confederacy with others that are in the same

danger with himself.

(Hobbes xiii:9)

This equality leads to natural competition and a desire for recognition which man is willing to kill for. Equality in ability also leads to equality in hope of attaining our ends. If two desire the same thing, they fight. Man fights for gain, safety and glory (Hobbes xiii:6). All of this creates a situation of everyone in war with everyone and a life which is " solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short (Hobbes xiii:9)."

Nothing is unjust in this war of all versus all and in fact conceptions of good and evil are entirely subjective. Good is what one loves and evil is what one hates and the choices are entirely arbitrary.

Despite the anti-religious tone of Hobbes introduction where he portrays man become God there are numerous references to the Fall and to religion in general in the Leviathan. "For he that... plunge[s] himself profoundly into the pursuit of causes, shall at last come to this: that there must be... one first mover, that is, a first and an eternal cause of all things, which is that which men mean by the name of God (Hobbes xii:6)."

Adam and Eve when they ate the fruit of the tree of knowledge "did indeed take upon them God's office, which is judicature of good and evil, but acquired no new ability to distinguish between them aright (Hobbes xx:17)." When they subsequently put on clothing they "did tacitly censure God himself (Hobbes xx:17)." God's punishment for this act was a "privation of the estate of eternal life wherein God had at first created him [Adam]; and afterwards God punished his posterity for their vices, all but eight persons, with an universal deluge (Hobbes xxxv:3)." "Both Adam and Eve, led by ambition, trusted the serpent, not God, and they ate the forbidden fruit. So God expelled both of them from Paradise, lest they extend their hand to the tree of life and live to eternity (Hobbes appendix i:48)." This is a different picture of God's motivations then was found in Augustine.

Hobbes writings were heavily influenced by the scientific theories of his times. Cause and effect were the root of science and therefore of his philosophy as well. "Upon the sight of anything that hath a beginning, to think also it had a cause, which determined the same to begin, then when it did, rather than sooner or later (Hobbes xii:3)." A beginning is not enough however an end is required and for Hobbes that was the Leviathan/Commonwealth. Those who were rational would give up their freedom to gain peace without any exceptions over time/space. What occurs between the two is progress. "Man observeth how one event hath been produced by another, and remembereth in them antecedence and consequence (Hobbes xii:4)."

The register of knowledge of fact is called history.

Whereof there be two sorts: one called natural history

,which is the history of such facts, or effects of

nature, as have no dependence on man's will, such as

are the histories of metals, plants, animals, regions,

and the like. The other is civil history, which is

the history of the voluntary actions of men in

commonwealths.

(Hobbes ix:2)

For Hobbes then history/progress did not end with the martyrdom of Christ on the cross but continued up to his time and , he speculated, beyond until the ultimate Commonwealth was created.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau also had a well developed conception of what man would be like in his natural state without outside impediments like organized society or culture. His ideas bring us almost right back to the start for his ideas on the Savage Man in nature sound very much like the imagined life of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden. Savage Man had very few needs and desires, he was practically one with his surroundings. They were neither good nor evil, operated on instinct alone with no concept of lineage and therefore no history. As he had no foresight nor curiosity he had no idea of the future. He spent his time " wandering up and down the forests, without industry, without speech, and without home, an equal stranger to war and all ties (Rousseau p188)." Unlike Hobbes, Augustine and the Bible, Rousseau did not see man as inherently wicked nor violent. Savage Man was actually peaceful operating on two basic principles: 1) his own welfare and preservation 2) a "natural repugnance at seeing any other sensible being, and particularly any of our own species, suffer pain or death (Rousseau p157)."

Due to this sense of pity :

so long as he does not resist the internal impulse of

compassion, he will never hurt any other man, nor even

any sentient being, except on those lawful occasions

on which his own preservation is concerned and he is

obliged to give himself the preference.

(Rousseau p158)

This paints a far less brutal picture than Hobbes of the natural state of man however whereas Hobbes saw the commonwealth as the civilizing influence on man Rousseau saw as the corruptor. Man became wicked and violent due to society and the commonwealth.

The ultimate origin for the inequality of man, for Rousseau, was the Fall. He questions the justice of God and states that man has inequality because God wants it to be so. After all he took man out of the state of equality/nature and therefore inequality itself is God's fault (Rousseau p161). The Fall was a fall into time/history/progress which has led to the corruption and unhappiness of the human species.

Despite a rather anti-Christian view Rousseau did view civil religion as a necessity for a governing system. His ideal religion would have consisted of elements from pagan polytheistic Greco-Roman beliefs which were flexible and warlike with elements of Christianity to reign in the warlike tendencies.

Rousseau's beliefs on progress mirror the biblical ideas fairly closely. There was no progress in the time of Savage Man living as he was in a state of natural balance with nature. Man remained ever a child and this period mirrors the cyclical nature of Genesis. Man departed this natural state " only through some fatal accident, which, for the public good, should never have happened (Rousseau p199)." This accident, he speculates, was when the first man fenced off a piece of land thus separating himself from others and segmenting/segregating the earth.

After this came agriculture and the beginnings of human misery. Every advance since then "made by the human species remove[d] it still farther from its primitive state (Rousseau p154)." This progress has not been driven by any sort of divine providence but merely by a series of chance accidents which we cannot reverse. These led to the creation of society which has caused the state of war of, as Hobbes put it, all against all.

In a desperate attempt to stop the violence "all ran headlong to their chains, in hopes of securing their liberty; for they had just wit enough to perceive the advantages of political institutions, without experience enough to enable them to foresee the dangers (Rousseau p205)." The danger of course was the increase in violence between the political institutions. Society thus:

bound new fetters on the poor, and gave new powers

to the rich; which irretrievably destroyed natural

liberty, eternally fixed the law of property and

inequality, converted clever usurpation into

unalterable right, and for the advantage of a few

ambitious individuals, subjected all mankind to

perpetual labour, slavery, and wretchedness.

(Rousseau p205)

The final stage of this downward spiral is the creation of tyranny/despotism with people having blind obedience as their only remaining virtue. At this point all become 'equal' again as they are nothing underneath the rule of the strongest (Rousseau p219). Since we cannot return to the state of nature what must be strived for is the creation or the maintenance of legitimate states which limit the inequalities between men.

Although the exact parameters of the natural state of man have changed over the centuries the underlying role of the Bible in political philosophy has not. All of the thinkers presented here wrote quite specifically about the role of religion and especially the role which the Genesis story of the Fall has played. For all of them Genesis represented a beginning and not just of religion but as a starting point for the beginning of linear time. Although not all agreed to what the ultimate end is all used the same starting point, that of Adam and Eve and the garden of Eden.

The Holy Bible, King James Version. Iowa Falls: World Bible Publishers.

Bourke, Vernon J. ed. The Essential Augustine. Indianapolis: Hackett, 1974.

Hobbes, Thomas Leviathan. Edwin Curley ed. Indianapolis: Hackett, 1994.

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques The Social Contract and Discourses. GDH Cole trans. NY: JM Dent & Sons, 1968.