ABSTRACT
John Locke is often characterized as a liberal political thinker, especially because of his treatment of the possession of political power as a trust, and in many respects the problems of interpretation which surround his political theory may reasonably be regarded as problems concerned with the nature of, or degree of, that liberalism. Other difficulties arise, however, from the relationship between his most famous work in political theory, Two Treatises of Government, and his many other writings. Interpreters have invoked writings other than the Two Treatises in an attempt to resolve the many ambiguities present in that work. This has raised questions about the adequacy and limitations of this procedure; furthermore, it has led to debate about the coherence of Locke's wri tings taken together which overarches the discussion of the coherence of the Two Treatises read in isolation. One influential interpretation, provided by John Dunn, finds a coherence flowing from Locke's 'Calvinist' disposition.
