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- Dictionarystate/steɪt/
noun
- 1. the particular condition that someone or something is in at a specific time: "the state of the company's finances" Similar
- 2. a nation or territory considered as an organized political community under one government: "Germany, Italy, and other European states" Similar
verb
- 1. express something definitely or clearly in speech or writing: "the report stated that more than 51 per cent of voters failed to participate"
- 2. present or introduce (a theme or melody) in a composition: "a bold theme is stated at the beginning, driving the entire ten-minute allegro"
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Learn the meanings and uses of the word state in different contexts, such as condition, country, part of a country, or verb. Find synonyms, antonyms, idioms, and related words for state.
- Overview
- Greek and Roman precedents
- Machiavelli and Bodin
- Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau
state, political organization of society, or the body politic, or, more narrowly, the institutions of government. The state is a form of human association distinguished from other social groups by its purpose, the establishment of order and security; its methods, the laws and their enforcement; its territory, the area of jurisdiction or geographic ...
The history of the Western state begins in ancient Greece. Plato and Aristotle wrote of the polis, or city-state, as an ideal form of association, in which the whole community’s religious, cultural, political, and economic needs could be satisfied. This city-state, characterized primarily by its self-sufficiency, was seen by Aristotle as the means ...
It was not until the 16th century that the modern concept of the state emerged, in the writings of Niccolò Machiavelli (Italy) and Jean Bodin (France), as the centralizing force whereby stability might be regained. In The Prince, Machiavelli gave prime importance to the durability of government, sweeping aside all moral considerations and focusing ...
For Locke and Rousseau, as well as for Locke’s English predecessor Thomas Hobbes, the state reflected the nature of the human beings who created it. The “natural condition” of man, said Hobbes, is self-seeking and competitive. Man subjects himself to the rule of the state as the only means of self-preservation whereby he can escape the brutish cycle of mutual destruction that is otherwise the result of his contact with others.
For Locke, the human condition is not so gloomy, but the state again springs from the need for protection—in this case, of inherent rights. Locke said that the state is the social contract by which individuals agree not to infringe on each other’s “natural rights” to life, liberty, and property, in exchange for which each man secures his own “sphere of liberty.”
Rousseau’s ideas reflect an attitude far more positive in respect of human nature than either Hobbes or Locke. Rather than the right of a monarch to rule, Rousseau proposed that the state owed its authority to the general will of the governed. For him, the nation itself is sovereign, and the law is none other than the will of the people as a whole. Influenced by Plato, Rousseau recognized the state as the environment for the moral development of humanity. Man, though corrupted by his civilization, remained basically good and therefore capable of assuming the moral position of aiming at the general welfare. Because the result of aiming at individual purposes is disagreement, a healthy (noncorrupting) state can exist only when the common good is recognized as the goal.
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- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Learn the various meanings and uses of the word state as a noun, verb, and adjective. Find synonyms, examples, word history, and related phrases of state.
Learn the meaning and usage of the word state as a noun, adjective, and verb. Find out the origin, history, and synonyms of state, and explore related idioms and phrases.
Learn the various meanings and uses of the word state as a noun, adjective, and verb in English. Find synonyms, pronunciation, examples, and related terms for state.
Learn the meaning, pronunciation and usage of the word state as a noun in English. Find out the different meanings of state as a country, a government, a condition, a ceremony or a plural form of the US.
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