Two Treatises of Civil Government
Author: first_name:  John
last_name: Locke
Language: English
Year: 1764

The <em>Two Treatises of Civil Government</em> is a work of political philosophy published anonymously in 1689 by John Locke. The <em>First Treatise</em> is an extended attack on Sir Robert Filmer's <em>Patriarcha</em>, which argued for a divinely-ordained, hereditary, absolute monarchy. The more influential <em>Second Treatise</em> outlines a theory of civil society based on natural rights and contract theory. Locke begins by describing the "state of nature," and goes on to explain the hypothet