Anti-Climacus

A SHORT DEFENSE OF LOCKE: Nozick's interpretation of Locke has a lot of power, and many (MacPherson, Strauss, etc) have an interest in making everyone's favorite late 17th century English philosopher into a prophet of individualism, to the point where this is, I would imagine, the standard interpretation (certainly it is so treated here). e.g.:

Locke seems to miss what so many miss today–the extent to which his radical shift is still parasitic on a notion of individuality, equality, and later in the tradition, individual conscience, that never really frees itself from its Christian origins.

It's been odd to me that the affinity between the Second Treatise and the book of Ephesians is rarely commented on. Locke, I think, is not primarily individualistic, but instead relational. Like Ephesians, he covers the relationship between husband and wife, parents and children, slaves and masters, and political rulers and the ruled; those all become different in Locke's scheme, but its origin and the influence on it are clear.