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
Classification
Political RoleCommissioner for Trade and Plantations 1 Connections
Advocated
Locke's Second Treatise (1689) made governance through known, standing laws rather than arbitrary decree a central check on legitimate governmental power.
Source The Rule of Law (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
Locke's Second Treatise of Government (1689) grounded legitimate government in a conditional contract protecting natural rights.
Source Locke's Political Philosophy (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
Associated With
This source names United States directly: "A foundational influence on liberalism and on the United States Declaration of Independence."
Source Locke's Political Philosophy (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
Drafted
Locke published the Two Treatises anonymously in 1689, only acknowledging authorship near the end of his life.
Source Locke's Political Philosophy (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
Founded
Locke's Second Treatise of Government (1689) grounded legitimate political authority in the express or tacit consent of those governed.
Source Locke's Political Philosophy (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
Has Article
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.
Source Hugo Grotius (Britannica)
Locke took up Hobbes's social contract framework while rejecting its absolutist conclusion, arguing consent could be withdrawn from a government that broke the trust.
Source Locke's Political Philosophy (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
In the Other Atlases
Same As
Also in Philosophy Atlas: the same subject.
Sources
1. John Locke (Wikipedia)
2. Locke's Political Philosophy (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyEntity description, gender reference sentence
He died in 1704.
- Advocated: The Social Contract
- Founded: Consent of the Governed
Drafted: Two Treatises of Government, Page text
In the Two Treatises of Government , he defended the claim that men are by nature free and equal against claims that God had made all people naturally subject to a monarch.
- Influenced By: Thomas Hobbes
- Drafted: Two Treatises of Government, Section discussing the Two Treatises
View the Source The Rule of Law (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
Hugo Grotius (Britannica)
Influenced By: Hugo Grotius
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