John Locke

Second Treatise of Government John Locke

In the Second Treatise of Government, John Locke develops a number of notable themes of philosophy, epistemology and free will & determinism. He outlines a theory of civil society by describing the state of nature, wherein individuals are under no obligation to obey one another but are each themselves judge of what the law of nature requires. John Locke argues that all men are created equal in the state of nature by God, and he goes on to explain the hypothetical rise of property and civilization, and in the process he explains that only legitimate governments are those that have the consent of the people and therefore any government that rules without the consent of the people can, in theory, be overthrown. Second Treatise of Government also covers conquest and slavery, property, representative government, and the right of revolution. In addition, other broad topics are indirectly covered, such as politics & social sciences, philosophy, epistemology, and free will & determinism. John Locke was an English philosopher and physician, widely regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers and commonly known as the Father of Liberalism. John Locke was also considered one of the first of the British empiricists, and he is equally important to social contract theory. Locke's work greatly affected the development of epistemology and political philosophy and his contributions to classical republicanism and liberal theory are reflected in the United States Declaration of Independence. Second Treatise of Government is often required textbook reading in various politics & social sciences courses.