In the Shadow of Leviathan: John Locke and the Politics of Conscience

Ideas in Context

by Jeffrey R. Collins

Thomas Hobbes and John Locke sit together in the canon of political thought but are rarely treated in common historical accounts. This book narrates their intertwined careers during the Restoration period, when the two men found themselves in close proximity and entangled in many of the same political conflicts. Bringing new source material to bear, In the Shadow of Leviathan establishes the influence of Hobbesian thought over Locke, particularly in relation to the preeminent question of religious toleration. Excavating Hobbes's now forgotten case for a prudent, politique toleration gifted by sovereign power, Jeffrey R. Collins argues that modern, liberal thinking about toleration was transformed by Locke's gradual emancipation from this Hobbesian mode of thought. This book investigates those landmark events - the civil war, Restoration, the popish plot, the Revolution of 1688 - which eventually forced Locke to confront the limits of politique toleration, and to devise an account of religious freedom as an inalienable right.

Genres: Philosophy, History, Politics, Nonfiction

440 pages, Hardcover

Published April 30, 2020

Reviews

[Benjamin Phillips · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent and intense intellectual biography which studies Locke’s journals, marginalia, friendships, and the conceptual shadow-boxing of his writing to trace his development from an initial emulation of Hobbes to a later formulation of very contrary ideas.
Collins limits himself to theories of conscience, but in doing so plays a big historiographical game contra Straussians and neo-republicans.