17th Century Natural Rights Theorists

About this Collection

The 17th century was an important period in the development of natural law theories. The crises and revolutions of the mid-century prompted many thinkers to see civil and economic relations as being based on natural law and natural rights, independent of the monarch or the church. These thinkers laid the foundation for the further secularization of natural law theories in the Enlightenment of the 18th century and the revolutions which came out of that, namely the American and French Revolutions.

Western Europe Natural Law Schools of Thought 17th Century Philosophy (General) Law

Key People

Pierre Bayle

Pierre Bayle

Gershom Carmichael

Gershom Carmichael

Nathaniel Culverwell

Nathaniel Culverwell

Richard Cumberland

Richard Cumberland

Hugo Grotius

Hugo Grotius

John Locke

John Locke

Samuel von Pufendorf

Samuel von Pufendorf

Algernon Sidney

Algernon Sidney

Huldrych Zwingli

Huldrych Zwingli

Titles & Essays

Group by Category

THE READING ROOM

Francis Bacon: An Enlightenment Man before the Enlightenment

By: Walter Donway

“All students and undergraduates should lay aside their various authors and only follow Aristotle and those who defend him. . . . [Avoid] all sterile and inane questions departing or disagreeing from ancient and true philosophy.” —…
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THE READING ROOM

Francis Bacon’s The Advancement of Learning

By: Philip D. Bunn

It may seem strange to those this side of the Enlightenment that “the advancement of learning” should need any defense. If anything, we today are plagued with fears of misunderstanding rapidly advancing science, or of standing on…
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John Locke

Below the fold is a collection of key extracts by, and essays and study guides about John Locke (1632-1704).

See also the following works:

Works in the OLL by John Locke (1632-1704) Liberty Matters Discussion Forum: Eric Mack on “…

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THE READING ROOM

John Locke and the New Course of Enlightenment Reason: Empiricism

By: Walter Donway

The world hardly needs another brief introduction to the giant of English philosophy, John Locke. He could be called the author of the Western mind. And has been called the quintessential man of the Enlightenment, the “father of…
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THE READING ROOM

John Locke Foments Revolution in the Name of “The Rights of Man”

By: Walter Donway

In his years as physician to and political collaborator with Shaftesbury, leader of the English Whigs, John Locke had many roles, among them as a fellow of the New Royal Society, conducting medical research, and as Shaftesbury's…
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Locke, John (1632-1704)

Related Links:

Works by John Locke

Related Links:

John Locke

Source: Editor's Life in The Works of John Locke in Nine Volumes, (London: Rivington, 1824 12th ed.). Vol. 1.

THE LIFE OF THE AUTHOR.

Mr. John Locke was the son…

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Locke: A Life

Related Links:

John Locke

Source: Editor's Introduction to The Works of John Locke in Nine Volumes, (London: Rivington, 1824 12th ed.). Vol. 1.

THE LIFE OF THE AUTHOR.

Mr. John Locke was the son of John Locke, of Pensford,…

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THE READING ROOM

OLL’s April Birthday: Hugo Grotius (10 April 1583 – 28 August 1645)

By: Peter Carl Mentzel

April’s OLL Birthday essay is in honor of the Dutch political philosopher Hugo de Groot, Latinized as Grotius. Sometimes referred to as “the father of Natural Law,” his writings can be seen as marking the origins of Natural Law…
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THE READING ROOM

René Descartes Dreams the “Philosopher’s Dream”—And Launches Modern Philosophy

By: Walter Donway

In winter 1619, the man who became the “founder of modern philosophy,” the first great philosophical challenge to centuries of Christianized Aristotelian Scholasticism, found himself caught by winter in the little town of Ulm, near…
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Quotes

Women’s Rights

Mary Wollstonecraft on Women’s Education

Mary Wollstonecraft
Full Quote

Notes About This Collection

For more information see:

  • Brian Tierney, The Idea of Natural Rights (Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans, 2001).
  • Stephen Buckle, Natural Law and the Theory of Property: Grotius to Hume (Oxford: Claredon Press, 1991).
  • Roscoe Pound, The Ideal Element in Law (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2002).
  • Heinrich A. Rommen, The Natural Law: A Study in Legal and Social History and Philosophy, trans. Thomas R. Hanley. Introduction and Bibliography by Russell Hittinger (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund 1998).