Looking for the name of Philsopher or Philosophy/Book/Thesis from around Enlightnement period about human inclicnation to tribalism

Question

Im not sure what im looking for exactly but having read it in the past from "history of philosophy" (coppleston type series of books) where it was discussing a type of philosopher or philosophy that argued that even if you removed religion that man would be inclined towards "tribal" type of mentality ie mankind cant escape religion he is naturally inclined towards it would break down into tribes or groups based on some belief about society or nature or standards ie sexuality/environment/epithets/epoch

Answer 1

Well, what you have is rather ambiguous, however, we can start you on the path by noting that the idea that humans have a nature that is demonstrable and exists independent and before modern forms of social organization is called the state of nature. From WP:

In Ethics and political philosophy, in social contract theory, religion, and international law, the term state of nature describes the hypothetical way of life that existed before people organised themselves into societies. Philosophers of the state of nature theory propose that there was a historical period before societies existed, and seek answers to the questions: What was life like before civil society?, How did government emerge from such a primitive start?, and What are the hypothetical reasons for entering a state of society by establishing a nation-state?

Now, of the philosophers in the WP article, perhaps the most famous for taking a pessimistic view of humans is Hobbes in his Leviathan which is a very prominent example of a metaphor in political philosophy called the social contract. Along with Locke and Rousseau, Hobbes essentially discussed an extended metaphor of how modern society is governed by an implicit agreement between a person and society. The Leviathan contains a famous Hobbes quotation:

No arts; no letters; no society; and which is worst of all, continual fear, and danger of violent death; and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.