John Locke, Two Treatises of Government

Mark Goldie (University of Cambridge)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.05: English Writing and Culture from the Glorious Revolution to the French Revolution, 1689-1789.
Vol. editors: Paul Baines (University of Liverpool), Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), Pat Rogers (University of South Florida), Nicholas Seager (University of Keele)

Domains

Political Philosophy
Political Theory

Dates

First circulation or publication 1690

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Treatise

Resources

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Locke’s

Two Treatises of Government

is commonly called the founding text of liberalism, and it is held to be a classic statement of the theories of natural rights, the social contract, private property, and consent as the ground of legitimate government. This is an appropriate characterisation in the context of analytical political theory, and the text is studied chiefly by political scientists and philosophers. It is less appropriate as an historical categorisation. To its contemporaries the book belonged to a recognisable tradition of radical Protestant theories of resistance, the tradition of the Scottish Reformers, such as George Buchanan in his

The Law of Kingship among the Scots

(1579), of the French Huguenots, such as Phillippe du Mornay in his

Defence of Liberty Against Tyrants

…

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2244 words

Citation: Goldie, Mark. "Two Treatises of Government". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 12 April 2005 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=8505, accessed 24 November 2024.]