This essay is an exercise in the form of eidetic analysis Husserl called "regressive inquiry (Rückfrage)." The matter with which we are concerned is the sense (Sinn) of the modern state and our aim is to unearth the buried origins of this sense, the sedimented evidences from which it emerged. To achieve this goal we must first explicate the matter at issue, rendering it distinct. This entails specifying the defining traits of the state as it is currently encountered as well as discerning the specific nature of its ideality. This in turn will permit us to ascertain the necessary historical conditions, the "historical apriori," and the tradition of sense-formation that has enabled it to emerge.¹