• This highly approachable volume combines two of Western philosophy's greatest texts on just government and tolerance, issues at the forefront of modern debates on freedom and society.
• Locke's Second Treatise of Government is one of the classics of political philosophy, and a foundational text of modern liberalism. Its theory of the just society is a timeless examinaiton of human nature.
• A Letter Concerning Toleration has special relevance in today's multi-faith culture, and with regard to the relationship of religious institutions to the state.
• This new edition considers the importance of Locke's texts and the contested nature of his reputation.
• The text of the Second Treatise is that of 1714, the final edition to incorporate Locke's own amendments.

   
'Man being born...to perfect freedom...hath by nature a power...to preserve his property, that is, his life, liberty and estate.'
   
Locke's Second Treatise of Government (1689) is one of the great classics of political philosophy, widely regarded as the foundational text of modern liberalism. In it Locke insists on majority rule, and regards no government as legitimate unless it has the consent of the people. He sets aside people's ethnicities, religions, and cultures and envisages political societies which command our assent because they meet our elemental needs simply as humans. His work helped to entrench ideas of a social contract, human rights, and protection of property as the guiding principles for just actions and just societies.
  
Published in the same year, A Letter Concerning Toleration aimed to end Christianity's wars of religion and called for the separation of church and state so that everyone could enjoy freedom of conscience. In this edition of these two major works, Mark Goldie considers the contested nature of Locke's reputation, which is often appropriated by opposing political and religious ideologies.