Final answer:
Thomas Hobbes' conception of the state of nature and natural rights.
Step-by-step explanation:
Thomas Hobbes' conception of natural rights extended from his conception of man in a "state of nature." He argued that the essential natural (human) right was "to use his own power, as he will himself, for the preservation of his own Nature; that is to say, of his own Life." Hobbes sharply distinguished this natural "liberty" from natural "laws." In his natural state, according to Hobbes, man's life consisted entirely of liberties, and not at all of laws. Since by our (human) nature, we seek to maximize our well being, rights are prior to law, natural or institutional, and people will not follow the laws of nature without first being subjected to a sovereign power, without which all ideas of right and wrong are meaningless.