On (mis)interpreting Locke: A reply to Tate

TY - JOUR

T1 - On (mis)interpreting Locke

T2 - A reply to Tate

AU - Stanton, Tim

PY - 2012/4

Y1 - 2012/4

N2 - Tate suggests that, pace the view I am said to attribute to him, Locke wished to extrude God and His purposes from his political theory, and that he did so by three means, (i) by grounding politics on material interests shared in common by all, (ii) by privatizing religious faith, and (iii) by inventing political liberalism avant la lettre. This article establishes, on textual grounds, the sheer oddity of attributing these positions to Locke, accenting the role of natural law and natural theology in shaping his true positions. It shows that Tate is mesmerised by a Rawls retrojection which blinds him to the content and character of Locke's views and makes him an unreliable guide both to those views and to my interpretation of them.

AB - Tate suggests that, pace the view I am said to attribute to him, Locke wished to extrude God and His purposes from his political theory, and that he did so by three means, (i) by grounding politics on material interests shared in common by all, (ii) by privatizing religious faith, and (iii) by inventing political liberalism avant la lettre. This article establishes, on textual grounds, the sheer oddity of attributing these positions to Locke, accenting the role of natural law and natural theology in shaping his true positions. It shows that Tate is mesmerised by a Rawls retrojection which blinds him to the content and character of Locke's views and makes him an unreliable guide both to those views and to my interpretation of them.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84857694432&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1177/0090591711432842

DO - 10.1177/0090591711432842

M3 - Article

SN - 0090-5917

VL - 40

SP - 229

EP - 236

JO - Political Theory

JF - Political Theory

IS - 2

ER -