God, Locke, and Equality

This is a concise and profound book from one of the world's leading political and legal philosophers about a major theme, equality, and the proposition that humans are all one another's equals. Jeremy Waldron explores the implications of this fundamental tenet for law, politics, society and economy in the company of John Locke, whose work Waldron regards 'as well-worked-out a theory of basic equality as we have in the canon of political philosophy'. Throughout the text, which is based on the Carlyle Lectures given in Oxford in 1999, Jeremy Waldron discusses contemporary approaches to equality and rival interpretations of Locke, and this dual agenda gives the whole an unusual degree of accessibility and intellectual excitement, of interest to philosophers, political theorists, lawyers and theologians around the world.

Preface; Citations and abbreviations; 1. Introduction; 2. Adam and Eve; 3. Species and the shape of equality; 4. 'The democratic intellect'; 5. Kings, fathers, voters, subjects and crooks; 6. 'Disproportionate and unequal possession'; 7. 'By our Saviour's interpretation'; 8. Tolerating atheists?; Bibliography; Index.