Political Philosophy and the State of Nature

A crucial element in most Political Philosophies has been the concept of 'Nature'. For Plato and Aristotle, Aristocracy is a fulfillment of Nature. For Hobbes, Nature is a condition of universal belligerence to which Political organization is an arbitrary artificial construct that serves as a corrective. For Rousseau, Nature is a state of original Goodness that had been corrupted by Political artifice. While Kant agrees with Hobbes that Nature is disharmonious, his solution, Rational organization, is an artifice based on Ideality. For Marx, the 'state of Nature' is a piece of fiction, so Political structure is a product of only the Dialectic of Economic History. Hence, the value of artifice in a Political Philosophy is a function of the value that it accords Nature. In Evolvementalism, artifice is no more 'unnatural' than the building of a house, so for it, deliberate Political construction is an artifice that is part of Human Nature, i. e. a 'Natural' extension of it. And, any critique of 'Artificiality' by a Political Philosophy should begin by considering whether or not it itself is artificial.