Political speculations

The period 1640-1714 saw the publication and reception of some of the most important works of political theory in the entire history of political thought, instanced most famously in Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan (1651), described by some as the most important work of philosophy by any Englishman at any time. It would have a serious challenger in John Locke's Two Treatises of Government (1689), the most influential work of political theory in the eighteenth century, and usually held to be the cornerstone of the English liberal tradition. At the same time the period is famous for a series of treatises that exploit in a variety of ways utopian tradition and articulate ideal worlds that reflect profoundly on contemporary issues. This chapter analyses not primarily political ideas but the way in which the English language is used on the levels of logic, rhetoric, grammar, syntax, and semantics to make the writings effective.