John Locke's 1689 work of political philosophy, published anonymously shortly after the Glorious Revolution. The First Treatise is a sustained refutation of Robert Filmer's Patriarcha and its theory of the divine right of kings, arguing point by point against the claim that royal authority descends from Adam's own God-given paternal authority. The Second Treatise, the work's philosophically central and far more influential half, sets out Locke's own positive theory: humans in a state of nature possess natural rights to life, liberty and property; legitimate government arises only from the consent of the governed to protect those rights; and a government that violates that trust may justly be resisted. Together the two treatises profoundly shaped later constitutional and revolutionary thought, including the American Declaration of Independence.
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Genre / FormSourced to the subject's own account TraditionSourced to the subject's own accountModern or Enlightenment 1 Publication Year Original Language Connections
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The Second Treatise of Government is the second and philosophically central of this work's two parts, already minted here as its own entity; this edge lets each page point at the other rather than silently overlapping.
Source Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Authored By
Source Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
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Source Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
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In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. Two Treatises of Government (Wikipedia)
WikipediaLead, full title sentenceQuote, Lead, full title sentence
Two Treatises of Government (full title: Two Treatises of Government: In the Former, The False Principles, and Foundation of Sir Robert Filmer, and His Followers, Are Detected and Overthrown. The Latter Is an Essay Concerning The True Original, Extent, and End of Civil Government) is English philosopher John Locke's principal work of political philosophy.
2. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Stanford University, Center for the Study of Language and Informationentry: Locke, Political Philosophy
In the Two Treatises of Government, he defended the claim that men are by nature free and equal against claims that God had made all people naturally subject to a monarch.
- In Category: Works
- Authored By: John Locke
- Associated With: Second Treatise of Government
- In Branch: Political Philosophy
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