Locke (1632–1704)

Abstract

In Two Treatises of Government (1689) Locke promotes ideas on the rights of the individual and on limited government, since regarded as fundamental to liberal political theory. Locke argues that a government’s legitimacy depends upon the origins of its power in individual consent. Individuals possess fundamental rights and sovereignty resides with the people. A free people will only willingly submit to government when it is in their interests to do so. In exercising sovereignty, government is entrusted by the people. A free people will not establish unlimited government. There is a right to resist tyranny. A government is rendered genuinely accountable only when the governed consent to its actions. It is necessary to constrain government through the separation of powers (most obviously into its legislative, executive and judicial functions). When these branches become too closely entwined good government is imperilled. Certain aspects of the human condition, religious conscience for example, should stand apart from governmental interference. The private sphere necessary for human individuality and flourishing should be protected through government’s commitment to the doctrine of toleration.