At the outset, I defined this effort as a discussion of John Locke’s Second Treatise of Government. Of course, as the name suggests, there is also a First Treatise of Government which I had not as yet read. Therefore, I set to reading Locke’s First Treatise to find out what its relationship is to the Second. Was it a first draft supplanted by the Second or was the Second a continuation of the First.
Locke’s First Treatise of Government is in fact a rebuttal to a work by Sir Robert Fuller who sought to justify divine right kings. He found Fuller’s work to be generally absurd, and proceeded to spend great effort to expose those absurdities. Locke accuses Fuller of making vague and repetitive arguments, which in turn causes Locke’s rebuttal to be repetitive as well. Having satisfied with himself that he had debunked Fuller’s work, Locke set about defining what in fact does constitute legitimate government. Lock had in fact at least begun his Second Treatise when he was writing the last chapters of his First Treatise since he makes direct reference to the Sixth Chapter of his Second Treatise regarding paternal power.
