Two Treatises of Government and a Letter Concerning Toleration

John Locke, Ian Shapiro

Book cover for Two Treatises of Government and a Letter Concerning Toleration
Book cover for Two Treatises of Government and a Letter Concerning Toleration

Two Treatises of Government and a Letter Concerning Toleration

Two Treatises of Government and a Letter Concerning Toleration

John Locke, Ian Shapiro

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Description

Two of Locke's most mature and influential political writings and three brilliant interpretive essays have been combined here in one volume. Among the most influential writings in the history of Western political thought, John Locke's Two Treatises of Government and A Letter Concerning Toleration remain vital to political debates more than three centuries after they were written. The complete texts are accompanied by interpretive essays by three prominent Locke scholars. and biographical context. John Dunn explores both the intellectual context in which Locke wrote the Two Treatises of Government and A Letter Concerning Toleration and the major interpretive controversies surrounding their meaning. Ruth Grant offers a comprehensive discussion of Locke's views on women and the family, and Shapiro contributes an essay on the democratic elements of Locke's political theory. Taken together, the texts and essays in this volume offer insights into the history of ideas and the enduring influence of Locke's political thought.

About the Author

Ian Shapiro is William R. Kenan, Jr., Professor and chair, Department of Political Science, Yale University. John Dunn is professor of social and political science at Cambridge University. Ruth Grant is professor of political science at Duke University.

Critical Reviews

"The new standard edition of Locke for students of political theory. Dunn, Grant, and Shapiro combine authoritative historical scholarship and contemporary political theory to give us Locke for our time."--Elisabeth H. Ellis, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Texas A&M University


"In criticisms of 'liberalism' over the past two decades, the political philosophy of John Locke has been denigrated as hopelessly old-fashioned, and even downright conservative. John Dunn, Ruth Grant, and especially, Ian Shapiro present Locke to us afresh. They recover precisely the progressively innovative, and even radically democratic quality of Lockean political thought."--John P. McCormick, University of Chicago


"An elegant edition of three of Locke's works that have been too infrequently published together. The accompanying essays, with their additional secondary source references, and delightful index, make it all the more useful for both teaching and research."--Judith A. Swenson, Boston University


Publishing Information

Publisher: Yale University Press
Pub date: 2003-11-10
Length: 358 pages

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