Abstract

A direct response to the political turmoil of seventeenth-century England and the then-current (mis)conceptions and intellectual fashions, John Locke’s political theory had a profound impact on the intellectual and literary thought of the period. One specific instance of this intellectual influence can be seen in Henry Fielding’s Tom Jones. This paper explores Locke’s political theory as expressed in his Two Treatises of Government in the context of Henry Fielding’s Tom Jones, and the ideas of “good” or “perfect” governance. Some concepts to be found in Hobbes and Montesquieu, whose The Spirit of Laws was published the year before Tom Jones, also have direct bearing on this subject.

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Presentation Type

Paper Presentation in a Themed Session

Theme

Civic, Political, and Community Studies

KEYWORDS

Governance Freedom Power

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