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State of Nature Island Scenario

Your plane has crashed on a desert island. You have nothing with you but the clothes on your back and
whatever is in the plane; you have no food, water, and shelter. The people with you are complete strangers to
you; for all you know, they could be thieves or murderers.
Because you are not a part of any real society and there are no laws, government, and authority telling you
what you can and cant do, you have complete freedom to do whatever you please.
You are living in, what philosophers such as Thomas Hobbes and John Locke called, the state of nature.
In the state of nature, every man and woman is completely equal and has complete freedom of action.
You all have your natural rights of life, liberty, and property. However, because there are no formal rules,
there is no guarantee that you and your natural rights are secure or safe from one another

Part 1: How Do You Picture and Act in the State of Nature?

Directions: On your own, and on a blank piece of paper, you may either:

Draw a picture, cartoon, or some sort of creative work that illustrates this island state of nature.

If you dont want to draw, write some sort of creative writing piece (i.e. diary entry, letter, news
report, etc.) that describes this island state of nature. Your writing must be at least three paragraphs.

In your work, you must include the following in order to receive full credit:
1. Describe the state of nature you are currently living in.
2. Explain what your main concerns are in this state of nature.
3. Discuss how would act in the state of nature if you were completely free to do whatever you want.
a. How would you protect yourself?
b. Would you remain on your own or interact with your group? Why/why not?
c. What would you do if you had a conflict with another person on the island? Remember, there
are no laws whatsoever.

Part 2: Wheres the food?

Directions: You and your group have spent three days looking for food, but you have been unsuccessful.
Youre all starving. Miraculously, while you are all near each other, one person finds one piece of fruit.
Everybody wants it, but how will you all decide who gets it? Remember, any of you can do whatever you
want to obtain it there are no rules or formal punishments. In other words, you have the right to steal or
murder if youd like.

In the same format you started in Part 1, (picture, cartoon, diary entry, letter, news report) explain:
1. Who do you think would get the food?
2. How did they get it?

Part 3: The Social Contract

Step 3: You and the other occupants have established a society that can best be described as ____________
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And so, you have all agreed to agree to a social contract (some basic ideas and rules) which you use to
make into very specific laws. To do this, you will have to limit your freedom. As a group, create a list of at
least 7-10 rules that youll live by. Your ultimate goal is to make sure that your rules protect your natural
rights to life, liberty, and property. Everyone must read and then vote on all your rules and only in order for
a rule to be made into a law, a majority1 of you need to consent. If you cant get a majority, then your social
contract does not have the consent of the governed and is void.
Getting Started:
1) Think of the problems you ran into yesterday. What were they? How will you fix them through the
rule of law?
2) Are there laws that you think will prevent problems in the future?
3) How will these laws protect your natural rights?
4) Will you form a government? Select a leader? How will you do it?

1 As a group, we will vote to decide what type of majority you want to use: a simple majority (more
than half of you) or a supermajority (more than two-thirds of you), or unanimous (everyone agrees)

Part 4: History is Written by the Victors

In small groups, pairs, or by yourself, write a history of your society as if it is suddenly far in the future
and you all have already figured things out. Explain what happened to make your society go from the state
of nature into a civilization through a social contract.

You must include:

1) A description of the plane crash, state of nature, and what happened on that day with the food,
using your own text from Part 1 and 2 as a primary source
2) A description of what happened next, after the food, and then how the society ended up with laws
and how those laws changed peoples lives.