First Treatise Of Government

Two Treatises of Government is a work by an English teacher and philosopher John Locke about the state origin and its role in the society, the “civilized” form of government in contradiction to the tyrannical monarchy that became a basis for the civil society idea. In The First Treatise, Locke analyzes the malignancy of a divine origin theory of any state power and proves that this idea will inevitably lead to poverty in one form or another. Eventually, this divine origin (jure divino) doctrine will put an end to every government. In The Second Treatise, Locke explains an origin of the state as a natural result of concluding the so-called “social agreement”. According to Locke, people united and reached this social agreement in order to defend everybody’s rights more efficiently.

In this, the second of his Two Treatises of Government, John Locke examines humankind’s transition from its original state of nature to a civil society. One can see the lasting influence of Locke’s ideas through their familiarity to the modern reader—the roots of classical liberalism are here, and many of Locke’s arguments foreshadow contemporary debates concerning government, liberty, and property rights. The introduction and annotations included in this edition are intended to contextualize the work and prevent misunderstanding, without advancing any particular scholarly interpretation or merely summarizing Locke’s reasoning. This edition has its origin in the acclaimed Broadview Anthology of Social and Political Thought and adheres to the anthology’s format and high standards of accuracy and accessibility. The Broadview Anthology of Social and Political Thought is edited by Andrew Bailey (University of Guelph), Samantha Brennan (University of Western Ontario), Will Kymlicka (Queen’s University), Jacob Levy (McGill University), Alex Sager (Portland State University), and Clark Wolf (Iowa State University).

In The Second Treatise of Government, John Locke answered two objectives: to refute the concept of the monarchy's divine right and to establish a theory reconciling civil liberties with political order. His Letter Concerning Toleration rests on the same basic principles as his political theory; Locke's main argument for toleration is a corollary of his theory of the nature of civil society. The basis of social and political philosophy for generations, these works laid the foundation of the modern democratic state in England and abroad. Their enduring importance makes them essential reading for students of philosophy, history, and political science. -- Amazon.com

The classic 1690 book is one of the most important and influential works on government ever published. The first part demolishes the main authoritarian/totalitarian ideology of its day: the doctrine of the divine right of kings to absolute arbitrary power over their subjects. The second sets out the real social origins, functions, and limits of government. Locke demonstrates that far from God and natural law ordaining all-powerful hereditary dictatorship, the only legitimate form of government is one established by the consent of the people and committed to upholding their fundamental human rights to life, liberty, and property. The book justified the Glorious Revolution establishing parliamentary government in England and was an inspiration behind the American Declaration of Independence a century later. Around the world, it continues to have a profound influence on the theory and practice of limited representative government and the protection of basic rights and freedoms under the rule of law. However, the book is now well over 300 years old and present-day readers find its language difficult to follow and understand in places. This version translates the work into current English and seeks to make its substantive content clearer. Literalness and original word order and grammar are retained as far as possible. Nonetheless, the primary objective has been to improve the readability of the text in order to better convey its meaning. The considerable distance in time between the two documents has inevitably meant a considerable difference in conventional writing styles. In addition, much of the analysis in the original is intrinsically highly complex and subtle. Thus, this new version diverges significantly from the latter throughout. Contents: TREATISE 1 THE DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS: A REFUTATION OF THE DOCTRINE OF SIR ROBERT FILMER & HIS FOLLOWERS TREATISE 2 THE REAL ORIGINS, FUNCTIONS & LIMITS OF GOVERNMENT

Sir Filmer

This is the revised version of Peter Laslett's acclaimed edition of Two Treatises of Government, which is widely recognised as one of the classic pieces of recent scholarship in the history of ideas, read and used by students of political theory throughout the world. This 1988 edition revises Dr Laslett's second edition (1970) and includes an updated bibliography, a guide to further reading and a fully reset and revised introduction which surveys advances in Locke scholarship since publication of the second edition. In the introduction, Dr Laslett shows that the Two Treatises were not a rationalisation of the events of 1688 but rather a call for a revolution yet to come.

Two Treatises of Government (or 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 a work of political philosophy published anonymously in 1689 by John Locke. The First Treatise attacks patriarchalism in the form of sentence-by-sentence refutation of Robert Filmer's Patriarcha, while the Second Treatise outlines Locke's ideas for a more civilized society based on natural rights and contract theory.