Second Treatise of Government

John Locke was an English physician as well as an influential philosopher and Enlightenment thought leader. He is generally considered the father of liberalism and believed that all knowledge was based on experience alone. Furthermore, he is one of the most important contract theorists in the early Age of Enlightenment. His philosophy influenced the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States, the constitution of revolutionary France, and through this route most constitutions of liberal states. He argued to Locke that a government is legitimate only if it has the consent of the governed and protects the natural rights of life, liberty, and property. If these conditions are not met, subjects have a right to resist those who govern. Gröls Classics - English Edition