Chapters 6 - 10, pp. 140 - 181 Summary and Analysis

This section begins with a discussion of paternal power, which was basically the subject of the First Treatise. This is the belief that places the fate of children in the hands of the father instead of under the power of both parents. Locke feels that this power over children belongs to both parents, not just to the father, even though this power is given the name of paternal power. He reiterates his belief that all men are created equal in nature, but children do not experience this in their early years. They are all subject to the law that was to govern Adam and his posterity, and that is the law of reason. Children cannot obey the law of reason until they are old enough to understand what reason is. The individual is free when...