The state of Nature. Locke, too, started with the state of nature. But his state of nature was pre-political and not pre-social and, as such, it did not present to him such a dismal such a dismal state of affairs as it had done to Hobbes. Locke man in the State of nature was neither selfish, nor self-seeking, nor aggressive He was social and sympathetic towards others, because the law of nature which was the law of reason, directed him to be so. Under the law of nature as Dunning says, "of which reason is the interpreter, equality is the fundamental fact in men's relations to one another." But equality, for Locke, was not what it was for Hobbes. In Locke's state of nature men were equal and free act as they thought fit, but "within the bounds of the law of nature." And the "bounds of the law of nature" enjoined upon them not to harm another in life, health, liberty, or possessions. Locke's state of nature was "a state peace, good will mutual assistance and preservation as he himself put it contrast to 'a state of enmity, mallce violence and mutual destruction he described Hobbes' state of nature.