Skip to main content Skip to search Skip to search

History Great Britain

Sir Robert Filmer and English Political Thought

by (author) James Daly

Publisher
University of Toronto Press
Initial publish date
Dec 1979
Category
Great Britain, Political, Historical, History & Theory
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781442638037
    Publish Date
    Dec 1979
    List Price
    $27.95

Classroom Resources

Where to buy it

Description

Sir Robert Filmer (1588-1653) was a defender of 'the Natural Power of Kings against the Unnatural Liberty of the People.' His doctrine of omnicompetent sovereignty had little influence on the thought and political debates of his time, for none of his writings was published until the last few years of his life; but it came under scrutiny later in the century, particularly during the exclusion crisis and in the political writings of John Locke. This book is the first comprehensive analysis of his thought, its context, and its place in English political thought as a whole.

 

Daly examines Filmer's publishing career, his relation to contemporary writers and critics, and the chief sources on which he drew. The book thus provides the background for a study of Filmer's theory of sovereignty, its voluntarist concept of law, its rejection of prescription, fundamental law, and non-monarchical forms of government, and its insistence that monarchy be not only absolute, but arbitrary as well. Analysing Filmer's interpretation of Adam's (and all kings') 'fatherly power,' here described as 'legal patriarchalism,' Daly shows it to be very different from most contemporary thought. In comparing Filmer's thought with that of other royalists and the positions taken by his critics, notably Edward Gee, James Tyrrell, Algernon Sidney, and of course Locke, he shows it to be strikingly original, almost revolutionary, and frequently distorted by those who dealt with it.

About the author

James Daly was a member of the Department of History at McMaster University.

James Daly's profile page