:''See also:

Patriarchalism Patriarchalism is an archetypal political conception that arose most succinctly in seventeenth century England. It defends absolute power for the monarchy, through language that emphasized the "paternal" power of the king over the state and his ...

'' ''Patriarcha, or The Natural Power of Kings'' is a book by the English philosopher

Robert Filmer Sir Robert Filmer (c. 1588 – 26 May 1653) was an English political theorist who defended the divine right of kings. His best known work, '' Patriarcha'', published posthumously in 1680, was the target of numerous Whig attempts at rebuttal ...

. It was likely begun in the 1620s and completed before the outbreak of the

English Civil War The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...

in 1642 but it was only published in 1680 after the Restoration. The book defends the divine right of kings on the basis that all modern states' authority derived from the

Biblical patriarchs The patriarchs ( '' ʾAvot'', "fathers") of the Bible, when narrowly defined, are Abraham, his son Isaac, and Isaac's son Jacob, also named Israel, the ancestor of the Israelites. These three figures are referred to collectively as "the patria ...

(whom Filmer saw as

Adam Adam is the name given in Genesis 1–5 to the first human. Adam is the first human-being aware of God, and features as such in various belief systems (including Judaism, Christianity, Gnosticism and Islam). According to Christianity, Adam ...

's heirs), history and logic. Concurrently, he criticized rival theories claiming the basis of a state should be the

consent of the governed In political philosophy, consent of the governed is the idea that a government's political legitimacy, legitimacy and natural and legal rights, moral right to use state power is justified and lawful only when consented to by the people or society o ...

social contract In moral and political philosophy, the social contract is an idea, theory, or model that usually, although not always, concerns the legitimacy of the authority of the state over the individual. Conceptualized in the Age of Enlightenment, it ...

Argument

The book describes an arrangement of

patriarchy Patriarchy is a social system in which positions of authority are primarily held by men. The term ''patriarchy'' is used both in anthropology to describe a family or clan controlled by the father or eldest male or group of males, and in fem ...

at every level of

human society A society () is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Soc ...

, and argues that this is natural. The

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

is like a family in which kings are like fathers with subjects who are like children.

Reception

John Locke John Locke (; 29 August 1632 (Old Style and New Style dates, O.S.) – 28 October 1704 (Old Style and New Style dates, O.S.)) was an English philosopher and physician, widely regarded as one of the most influential of the Enlightenment thi ...

and others attacked what they saw as the absurdity of Filmer's views. The first of Locke's ''

Two Treatises of Government ''Two Treatises of Government'' (full title: ''Two Treatises of Government: In the Former, The False Principles, and Foundation of Sir Robert Filmer, and His Followers, Are Detected and Overthrown. The Latter Is an Essay Concerning The True O ...

'' consists mainly of criticism of Filmer. Locke found Filmer's account of political authority unworkable, arguing that it could not be used to justify any actual political authority, since it is impossible to show that any particular ruler is one of Adam's heirs. Woolhouse 2005. p. 525. ''Patriarcha'' remains Filmer's best known work. R. S. Downie considers Filmer's attacks on contract and consent as explanations of political obligation to be plausible, and finds it unfortunate that Filmer's belief in Adam's kingship has obscured them. Downie 2005. p. 302.

References

Bibliography

;Books * * {{refend 1680 non-fiction books 1680 in England 1680 in politics Books in political philosophy English-language non-fiction books Christianity and political ideologies Books about sovereignty Works about monarchy Works about patriarchy Cultural depictions of Adam and Eve