Locke: Political Essays

A most comprehensive collection of John Locke's essays on politics and society.

John Locke (Author), Mark Goldie (Edited by)

9780521478618, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 25 September 1997

456 pages
21.6 x 14 x 2.6 cm, 0.625 kg

"...the very existence of a collection of this breadth with this sort of documentation is so remarkable that it seems wrong to criticize it. It is an excellent idea well executed." Ruth Sample, Philosophy in Review

We know more about the development of John Locke's ideas than we do about almost any other philosopher's before modern times. This book brings together a comprehensive collection of the writings on politics and society that stand outside the canonical works which Locke published during his lifetime. In the aftermath of the Revolution of 1688 the three works by which he is chiefly known appeared: the Two Treatises of Government, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, and A Letter Concerning Toleration, and the themes raised in these works had been reflected upon over many years. Mark Goldie's edition makes possible the fullest exploration of the evolution of Locke's ideas concerning the philosophical foundations of morality and sociability, the boundary of church and state, the shaping of constitutions, and the conduct of government and public policy.

Acknowledgements
Introduction
Principal events in Locke's life
Further reading
A note on the selection
A note on the texts
Abbreviations and conventions
Part I. Major Essays: 1. First Tract on Government (1660)
2. Second Tract on Government (c. 1662)
3. Essays on the Law of Nature (1663–4)
4. An Essay on Toleration (1667)
5. The Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina (1669)
6. An Essay on the Poor Law (1697)
Part II. Minor Essays: seventy shorter essays and fragments on a wide range of subjects
Appendix: Extract from 'Draft B' (1671) of Human Understanding
Extract from 'A Letter from a Person of Quality' (1675)
Extract from 'Study' (1677)
Extract from 'Critical Notes on Stillingfleet' (1681)
Locke's reading list
Checklist of Lockeana in print
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: History of ideas [JFCX]