Second Treatise of Government, Chapter 6 summary
Chapter 6 of 19 · Book 2 · 24 min to read the chapter
In Chapter 6, the argument separates parents’ temporary authority to educate children from political power, grounding parental rule in care rather than fatherhood alone. It distinguishes lifelong respect from lifelong obedience, explains the influence of inheritance, and attributes fathers’ emergence as rulers to their grown children’s consent.
What happens
- The argument gives mothers an equal parental claim and defines natural equality as freedom from another person’s arbitrary authority.
- Parents guide children until reason enables them to understand law and govern their own actions.
- Parental authority depends on upbringing, ends with maturity, and gives no sovereign power over children’s lives or possessions.
- Children owe parents lifelong respect and support, but these duties do not require unlimited obedience.
- Inheritance encourages compliance, while accepting inherited land requires accepting the government and conditions attached to it.
- Fathers can become political rulers through their grown children’s consent, not through an inherent right of fatherhood.
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What gives a father political authority over his grown children in the account of early families?
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