John Locke's Letter Concerning Toleration is one of the most under-appreciated texts in the liberal tradition of political philosophy. The subject of the Letter is specifically religious toleration, but Locke's general argument for toleration is also applicable to issues of more modern concern. This is not a state of license, in that the civil government does not actively promote a variety of (or for that matter, any) religious practices, but it is a state of negative liberty, in which the state remains neutral to the religious content of religious worship. Specific sects or acts of worship can be banned if they are "prejudicial to other men's rights" or they "break the public peace of societies," but they cannot be banned on religious grounds. Some critics have argued that Locke's Letter is no longer very relevant: he deals only with religious toleration, and religious toleration is widely accepted and practiced in the modern Western world. However, the historical context of the Letter suggests it retains its relevance. In Locke's day, religion was not the dormant issue it is today; rather it was the most controversial issue of public debate. Before Locke, toleration was just something the underdog wished for in order to survive until he gained power over everyone else. Locke, however, goes beyond this pettiness and creates a theoretical defense of toleration as an extension of his political theory. While Locke probably did not imagine the controversial issues of political debate today, the broad basis for his defense of religious toleration implicitly justifies other sorts of social toleration in the modern world. If a state is created for the purposes and by the methods Locke suggests in his Second Treatise, then the men who consent to form such a state retain a significant negative liberty of belief and action. Any of these beliefs or actions must be tolerated by the state unless they fail Locke's criteria for religious toleration, namely, unless they are "prejudicial to other men's rights" or they "break the public peace of societies." If possible, I would recommend trying to find a copy of the Routledge edition of this work (ed. Horton & Mendus), which includes critical reactions to Locke's Letter. However, Amazon currently lists it as out of print. Whatever edition you can find is worth reading: the need for toleration is as great in our own time as it was in John Locke's, and his contribution to the debate is likewise as valuable now as it was then.

Product Description: Two Treatises of Government is a work of political philosophy published anonymously in 1689 by John Locke. The First Treatise attacks patriarchalism in the form of sentence-by-sentence refutation of Robert Filmer's Patriarcha, while the Second Treatise outlines Locke's ideas for a more civilized society based on natural rights and contract theory...read more

Product Description: John Locke (b. 1632, d. 1704) was a British philosopher, Oxford academic and medical researcher. Locke's monumental An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1689) is one of the first great defenses of empiricism and concerns itself with determining the limits of human understanding in respect to a wide spectrum of topics...read more

Presents the entire text of Locke's analysis of the meaning and use of words and the nature and reality of knowledge and opinion

Product Description: The First & Second Treatises of Government British writer John Locke is a proponent of limited government and argues that governments have obligations to citizens and can be overthrown under certain circumstances. Two Treatises of Government is a work of political philosophy published anonymously in 1689 by John Locke...read more

Two of Locke's most mature and influential political writings and three brilliant interpretive essays have been combined here in one volume. Among the most influential writings in the history of Western political thought, John Locke's "Two Treatises of Government" and "A Letter Concerning Toleration" remain vital to political debates more than three centuries after they were written. Taken together, the texts in this volume offer insights into the history of ideas and the enduring influence of Locke's political thought.

Product Description: First and Second Treatises of Government By John Locke This edition contains Locke's First and Second Treatises of Government, published in 1689. In the First Treatise, Locke argues that no government can be justified by an appeal to the divine right of kings...read more

Product Description: Sam Case parece tenerlo todo: se gana bien la vida como informatico, esta casado con Rachel, una guapa publicista, vive en una casa con todo lujo de comodidades, tiene un buen coche y sin que nadie lo sepa, excepto su mujer, se ha hecho multimillonario gracias a un programa informatico que permite desviar y blanquear dinero sin que el Gobierno pueda intervenir...read more