Jstor - Macpherson, C B - The Social Bearing Of Locke's Political Theory.pdf

The Social Bearing of Locke's Political Theory
C. B. Macpherson
The Western Political Quarterly, Vol. 7, No. 1 (Mar., 1954), 1-22.
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VOL. VII MARCH, 1954 No. 1
THE SOCIAL BEARING OF LOCKE'S
POLITICAL THEORY "
C. B. MACPHERSON
University of Toronto
HE REFERENCE in the title of this paper is to be taken in a double
sense. It marks a concern both with the social assumptions that
T carry the weight of Locke's political theory and with the type of
society to which that theory pointed the direction. Not enough attention
has been given to either of these problems, especially the first - the social
assumptions. It is not entirely surprising that these assumptions have been
neglected. The renewed discussion of Locke's political ideas in recent years
is part of a revival of interest in natural law and in the meaning and
possibilities of liberal democracy. But the current revival of interest in
liberal-democratic principles contains its own dangers. It is, directly or
indirectly, part of the Western defenses munism. The con-
sequent upation w