Biologische grondslagen van het staatsrecht

Tell me who you are and I will tell you how to organize your state. Hobbes believed, people will kill each other when they are not restrained by the law. Humankind would therefore be saved by reason. According to Rousseau humans are social creatures. The state endangers the good nature of man. Therefore, groups should organize by social contract. From a modern biological perspective, humans are evolutionary successful because they can cooperate and specialize within groups. The urge to cooperate is in their genes. They will cooperate even without reason. Non-cooperators will be punished, because reciprocity is important for the stability of the group. At the same time, individuals must have enough freedom to reproduce and flourish. Cooperation must be to the benefit of the individual, vice versa. In the perfect state, there is a balance between group stability and individual interests. To keep the balance, checks on free riders are necessary. This is how we feel we ‘must’ act, because if we do not do so, the state will fall apart, which is not in the interest of our selves and our genes. The way in which we ought to organize the state, evolves from what we feel is in the interest of the replication of our genes.