Two Treatises of Government

About “Two Treatises of Government”

Two Treatises of Government is an English philosopher John Locke's major work of political philosophy. It was published anonymously in 1689, following the Glorious Revolution, but likely written between 1680 and 1681 during the Exclusion Crisis. The First Treatise refutes the idea of absolute monarchy presented in Robert Filmer's Patriarcha, which supported hereditary rule. The Second Treatise presents Locke's vision of a society based on natural rights and contract theory, arguing that government must have the consent of the governed and that people have the right to overthrow a ruler under certain conditions. The Second Treatise was a revolutionary text in its time. The book is a foundational work in liberal political thought. (Summary adapted from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.)