International Law and Human Rights (Fall 2016)

Resource 1 . 2 . 1

6 minutes

John Locke, Two Treaties of Government (1690), excerpt

Samuel Moyn

John Locke (1632-1704) was a famous English philosopher (and terrorist) commonly thought to have helped inspire the American Revolution thanks to his argument that natural rights justify violent rebellion. Our question, looking briefly at Locke, is where he thinks individual rights come from, and whether we think he is correct.

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