Second Treatise of Government

About this book

Two Treatises of Government is English philosopher John Locke's principal work of political philosophy. It was published anonymously in 1689, after the Glorious Revolution, but likely drafted 1680-81 during the Exclusion Crisis (1679-81). The First Treatise attacks patriarchalism in the form of sentence-by-sentence refutation of the late Robert Filmer's Patriarcha, which argues for a divinely ordained, hereditary, absolute monarchy, ideas which remained current with living defenders. The Second Treatise outlines Locke's ideas for a more civilized society based on natural rights and contract theory, with government requiring the consent of the governed, and, under limited circumstances, the right to overthrow the ruler. "There can be no doubt that the Second Treatise was, in its time and place, a revolutionary work." The book is a key foundational text in the theory of liberalism.