Date: September 12th, 2026 7:30 PM Author: Jared Baumeister
they say the only reason Locke wrote his two Treatises was to rebut Filmer, and that shouldn't have been necessary unless Locke himself thought Filmer was super influential. Filmer also attracted critics on the continent, which was rare for English writers. We know Hobbes was widely read on the continent, but what if Filmer was too? What if we should go back and read Filmer?
Date: September 12th, 2026 7:35 PM Author: Jared Baumeister
Patriarcha, or The Natural Power of Kings is a book by the English philosopher Robert Filmer. It was likely begun in the 1620s and completed before the outbreak of the English Civil War in 1642 but it was only published in 1680 after the Restoration. The book defends the divine right of kings on the basis that all modern states' authority derived from the Biblical patriarchs (whom Filmer saw as Adam's heirs), history and logic. Concurrently, he criticized rival theories claiming the basis of a state should be the consent of the governed or social contract.