Paper Summary:

This paper discusses the family unit and its relationship with politics. It looks at John Locke's views, in his "Second Treatise of Government" of the place and nature of the family as a social unit in its contribution to what we today know as political science. It also looks at the viewed expressed in "The Analects" of Confucius. The paper compares and contrasts the two authors' views on family and politics.

Outline:
Introduction
Second Treatise of Government
The Analects and the Ideal Family
Reflection and Conclusion

From the Paper:

"As approaches to the family in relation to the greater forces of politic science and social order, both Locke and Confucius are intriguing to investigate, again, referring to the present, given that both began in reactions to observed and experienced political turbulence and situations of social disorder. For instance, what does it mean when conservative Americans and others proclaim the need for what are called Family Values, or why is it that members of non-Western societies so denounce what they perceive of Western individualism and non-existent family life? Put differently, what implications can be expected in societies to very much emphasis individualism, personal agency and competition, as part of how children are prepared for adult life? In the case of what is referred to as the Sinic World of cultures shaped by Chinese civilization, why might authoritarian governments of one kind or another be expected, or accepted?"

Sample of Sources Used:

• Eisenstein, Z.R. "John Locke - Patriarchal anti-Patriarchalism," in The Radical Future of Liberal Feminism. New York and London: Longman, 1981, 33-54.
• Macpherson, C.B. ed. John Locke - Second Treatise on Government. (1690). Indianapolis - Cambridge: Hackett Publishing Company, 1980.
• McLachlan, Hugh. Religion Opinions of Milton, Locke and Newton. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1941.
• Radice, Betty. Trans. Confucius - The Analects (Lun yu). London: Penguin, 1979.
• Slote, Walter H. and George A. de Vos. Confucianism and the Family. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1998.

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