Property and Political Power

In addition to the tensions within Filmer’s thought between a justification of absolute monarchy by divine appointment and a justification of absolute monarchy based on the natural right of fatherhood, and between both of those arguments as part of a natural law position and a de facto justification of usurpation, a third source of internal instability threatened to undermine the structure of Filmer’s political theory: the relationship between the ownership of private property and the exercise of political power. Here, again, Filmer’s objective can be simply stated: he wanted to give the ruler absolute authority over all property under his domain. Nevertheless, given the theoretical path he chose to follow, this conclusion assumed an elusive character, always lying just beyond the reach of Filmer’s arguments. Put simply, all the difficulties endemic to Filmer’s political theory discussed in the previous chapter are compounded by his treatment of property.