Two Treatises of Government (or
Two Treatises of Government: In the Former, The False Principles, and Foundation of Sir Robert Filmer, and His Followers, Are Detected and Overthrown. The Latter Is an Essay Concerning The True Original, Extent, and End of Civil Government) is a work of
political philosophy published anonymously in 1689 by
John Locke. The
First Treatise attacks
patriarchalism in the form of sentence-by-sentence refutation of
Robert Filmer's
Patriarcha, while the
Second Treatise outlines Locke's ideas for a more civilized society based on
natural rights and
contract theory.