Locke: Political WritingsJohn Locke's Second Treatise of Government (c. 1681) is perhaps the key founding liberal text. A Letter Concerning Toleration, written in 1685 (a year when a Catholic monarch came to the throne of England and Louis XVI unleashed a reign of terror against Protestants in France), is a classic defense of religious freedom. Yet many of Locke's other writings--not least the Constitutions of Carolina, which he helped draft--are almost defiantly anti-liberal in outlook. This comprehensive collection brings together the main published works (excluding polemical attacks on other people's views) with the most important surviving evidence from among Locke’s papers relating to his political philosophy. David Wootton's wide-ranging and scholarly Introduction sets the writings in the context of their time, examines Locke's developing ideas and unorthodox Christianity, and analyzes his main arguments. The result is the first fully rounded picture of Locke’s political thought in his own words. |
From inside the book
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... able to draw the distinction between what is religious and what is not that he had insisted was invalid when made by Bagshaw. The magistrate is not to act as a Christian magistrate, or strive in his official capacity to create a ...
... able to work quickly. All he had to do was isolate the arguments I have identified from Tyrrell's long-winded text, and decide in what order to present them. Nevertheless, there are fundamental differences between Locke's argument and ...
... able to decode these letters (although he makes no attempt to show that he has truly 'cracked' a code, as opposed to merely guessing at hidden meanings). The crucial piece of evidence that seems to justify his procedure is a letter from ...
... historical information provides valuable assistance in interpreting the Second Treatise, and numerous commentators have felt able to interpret Locke's arguments without constant reference 94 INTRO DUCTION A Letter Concerning Toleration.
... able to provide an adequate treatment of A Letter Concerning Toleration within the conventions of the history of ideas.” Consequently, almost everybody who writes about it writes in a curiously mixed mode: on the one hand they explain ...
Contents
1 | |
5 | |
Suggestions for Further Reading | 123 |
A Note on the Texts | 131 |
Letter to SH Henry Stubbe midSeptember? 1659 | 137 |
Letter to Tom 20 October 1659 | 139 |
From Question Whether the civil magistrate may lawfully impose and determine the use of indifferent things in reference to religious worship | 141 |
Preface to the Reader from the First Tract on Government | 146 |
The Idea We Have of God Journal 1 August 1680 | 237 |
Inspiration Journal 3 April 1681 | 238 |
Virtus 1681 from the 1661 Commonplace Book | 240 |
From The First Treatis of Government c 1681 | 242 |
Two Sorts of Knowledge Journal 26 June 1681 | 259 |
The Second Treatise of Government An Essay Concerning the True Original Extent and End of Civil Government c 1681 | 261 |
Letter to Edward Clarke 27 January6 February 1685 | 387 |
A Letter Concerning Toleration 1685 | 390 |
Question Can the civil magistrate specify indifferent things to be included within the order of divine worship? | 152 |
Question Is each mans private interest the foundation of the law of nature? | 177 |
Letter to the Hon Robert Boyle 1222 December 166 | 184 |
An Essay Concerning Toleration 1667 | 186 |
The Fundamental Consitutions of Carolina 1669 | 210 |
Philanthropy or The Christian Philosophers 1675 | 232 |
Obligation of Penal Laws Journal 25 February 1676 | 234 |
Law Journal 21 April 1678 | 236 |
Letter to Edward Clarkc 29 January8 February 1689 | 436 |
Preface to Two Treatises of Government 1689 | 438 |
Labour 1693 from the 1661 Commonplace Book | 440 |
Venditio 1695 from the 1661 Commonplace Book | 442 |
Draft of a Representation Containing a Scheme of Methods for the Employment of the Poor | 446 |
Bibliography | 462 |
Index | 471 |