John Locke Box Set

A Letter Concerning Toleration & The Second Treatise on Civil Government

By: John Locke

Narrated by: Museum Audiobooks cast

John Locke (1632 - 1704), the English philosopher and physician, is widely regarded as one of the Enlightenment's most influential thinkers. Commonly known as the "Father of Liberalism", Locke was one of the first British empiricists in the tradition of Sir Francis Bacon, and his work greatly affected the development of epistemology and political philosophy. "A Letter Concerning Toleration" (1689) addresses the problem of religion and government by proposing religious toleration as the answer. In the "Second Treatise", Locke claims that civil society was created for the protection of life, liberty, and estate. Locke stated his belief that nature on its own provides little of value to society, implying that the labour expended in the creation of goods creates their value. From this premise, he developed a labour theory of property, whereby ownership of property is created by the application of labour. In addition, he argues that property precedes government and that the state cannot dispose of the estates of its subjects arbitrarily.

Public Domain (P)2020 Museum Audiobooks