Natural Law, Reason and Hermeneutics

Locke’s skill as a polemicist in the First Treatise has received due recognition from scholars. He is relentless in exposing to ridicule ‘all the windings and obscurities’ of Filmer’s ‘wonderful system’ ( Two Treatises , preface), and the overall effect of Locke’s critique is devastating. Long before the language of unmasking and ideological conflict became fashionable, Locke provided an example of what is meant by destroying an opponent’s position through challenging the world-view with which he has identified himself. Although I wish to move beyond this recognition of the effects of Locke’s critique to consider its internal structure, this feature of the First Treatise is nevertheless very important to a general understanding of Locke’s political thought. For the First Treatise should not be viewed as a departure from the normally philosophical bent of Locke’s mind; on the contrary, much of Locke’s writing is highly polemical in nature. Indeed, the attractiveness of many Lockean arguments concerning religious, philosophical, political or economic issues derives precisely from this combative feature of his thought. The Essay Concerning Human Understanding , the Letter Concerning Toleration , the Two Tracts on Government , the Considerations on the Lowering of the Rate of Interest, The Reasonableness of Christianity and, of course, the Two Treatises all display the polemical cast of Locke’s mind. Since it is frequently asserted that Locke’s thought is too riddled with contradictions to gain him recognition as a great philosopher or system-builder, it could be argued that Locke is at his intellectual best when he is engaged in a polemical attack upon the ideas of his opponents. Be that as it may, what is important is that in exploring Locke’s confrontation with Filmer’s Patriarcha we are not merely detailing a refutation of a particular historical tract; rather, we are also gaining an insight into the workings of Locke’s mind and the process by which his own ideas emerged out of the conflict with those of his opponents.