Political Figures
John Locke
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English philosopher whose Two Treatises of Government (1689) argued that individuals possess natural rights to life, liberty and property independent of any government, and that legitimate government rests on the consent of the governed. A foundational influence on liberalism and on the United States Declaration of Independence. He died in 1704.
Facts
Cross-Tradition Connections
Advocated
Locke's Second Treatise (1689) made governance through known, standing laws rather than arbitrary decree a central check on legitimate governmental power.
Locke's Second Treatise of Government (1689) grounded legitimate government in a conditional contract protecting natural rights.
Associated With
This source names United States directly: "A foundational influence on liberalism and on the United States Declaration of Independence."
Drafted
Locke published the Two Treatises anonymously in 1689, only acknowledging authorship near the end of his life.
Founded
Locke's Second Treatise of Government (1689) grounded legitimate political authority in the express or tacit consent of those governed.
Influenced
Influenced By
Grotius' natural-rights framework, life, liberty and property as rights held independent of any earthly sovereign, is a direct forerunner of Locke's own in Two Treatises of Government.
Locke took up Hobbes's social contract framework while rejecting its absolutist conclusion, arguing consent could be withdrawn from a government that broke the trust.
In the Other Atlases
- Also in Philosophy Atlas: John Locke, the same subject.
Sources
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