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Second Treatise of Government (International Student Edition)

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About Second Treatise of Government

Edited by A. John Simmons, “one of our most distinguished theorists of political obligation” (Jeremy Waldron), the Norton Library edition of Locke’s Second Treatise of Government features the complete text of the sixth (1764) edition, which incorporated all of Locke’s corrections to previous editions. Punctuation has been altered and spelling modernized wherever necessary to eliminate ambiguity and make the text more readable. Extensive endnotes explain obscure terms and references and clarify Locke’s arguments. A thorough introduction situates the work in historical and intellectual context and, most importantly, traces its major themes and arguments to help readers approach “the greatest English philosopher[‘s]” (Antony Flew) most influential work with confidence and understanding.

257 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 15, 2021

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About the author

John Locke

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John Locke was an English philosopher. He is considered the first of the British Empiricists, but is equally important to social contract theory. His ideas had enormous influence on the development of epistemology and political philosophy, and he is widely regarded as one of the most influential Enlightenment thinkers and contributors to liberal theory. His writings influenced Voltaire and Rousseau, many Scottish Enlightenment thinkers, as well as the American revolutionaries. This influence is reflected in the American Declaration of Independence.

Locke's theory of mind is often cited as the origin for modern conceptions of identity and "the self", figuring prominently in the later works of philosophers such as David Hume, Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Immanuel Kant. Locke was the first Western philosopher to define the self through a continuity of "consciousness." He also postulated that the mind was a "blank slate" or "tabula rasa"; that is, contrary to Cartesian or Christian philosophy, Locke maintained that people are born without innate ideas.

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