Filmer, Sir Robert

Filmer, Sir Robert

▪ English philosopher
born c. 1588
died May 26, 1653, East Sutton, near Middlestone, Kent, Eng.

      English theorist who promoted an absolutist concept of kingship.

      Filmer was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, and at Lincoln's Inn. He was knighted by Charles I and had a brother and a son at court. During the English Civil Wars his house in East Sutton was sacked, and he went to prison as a royalist although he never fought for the king.

      During the exclusion crisis of 1679–80 Filmer's political tracts (first published between 1648 and 1653) were reissued (1679) and his major work, Patriarcha, was published for the first time (1680). John Locke (Locke, John), then writing on politics, attacked his writings as “glib nonsense,” but 20th-century scholars have viewed Filmer as a significant and interesting figure in his own right, quite apart from Locke's attention to him. He was the first English absolutist, for Patriarcha was written long before the Civil Wars and before Thomas Hobbes (Hobbes, Thomas) was published.

      Filmer believed that the state was a family, that the first king was a father, and that submission to patriarchal authority was the key to political obligation. Making a strained interpretation of scripture, typical of his time but ridiculed by Locke, he pronounced that Adam was the first king and that Charles I ruled in England as Adam's eldest heir. Filmer represented that patriarchal social structure which characterized Europe until the Industrial Revolution.

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать курсовую

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Filmer, Sir Robert — (d. 1653?)    Political writer, s. of Sir Edward F., of East Sutton, Kent, was ed. at Camb. He was an enthusiastic Royalist, was knighted by Charles I. and, in 1671, was imprisoned in Leeds Castle, Kent. He is notable as the defender, in its most …   Short biographical dictionary of English literature

  • Robert Filmer — Sir Robert Filmer (1588 – 26 May 1653) was an English political theorist. His most known work, Patriarcha , published in 1680, was a defense of the divine right of kings to rule. Its publication was an impetus for John Locke to write the first of …   Wikipedia

  • Robert Filmer — Sir Robert Filmer Philosophe occidental moderne Naissance 1588 Décès 26 mai 16 …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Robert Filmer — (* 1588 in East Sutton, Kent; † 26. Mai 1653) war ein englischer politischer Theoretiker und in der Zeit des englischen Bürgerkriegs der wichtigste englische Vertreter des absoluten Gottesgnadentums der englischen Monarchie. In der Nachwelt blieb …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Robert Flaherty — R. J. Flaherty réalisant un film, Port Harrison, QC, 1920 1921 Données clés Nom de naissance …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Robert J. Flaherty — Robert Flaherty Robert Flaherty R. J. Flaherty réalisant un film, Port Harrison, QC, 1920 1921 Nom de naissance Robert Joseph Flaherty …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Robert Joseph Flaherty — Robert Flaherty Robert Flaherty R. J. Flaherty réalisant un film, Port Harrison, QC, 1920 1921 Nom de naissance Robert Joseph Flaherty …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Sir Charles Sedley, 5th Baronet — For other people named Charles, see Charles Sedley (disambiguation). Sir Charles Sedley Sir Charles Sedley, 5th Baronet (March 1639 – 20 August 1701) was an English wit, dramatist and politician, ending his career as Speaker of the House of… …   Wikipedia

  • Locke’s political theory — Ian Harris The author of Two Treatises of Government also wrote An Essay concerning Human Understanding. This is an elementary fact, but one with an important implication for understanding Locke’s political theory. For Two Treatises is an… …   History of philosophy

  • List of philosophy topics (D-H) — DDaDai Zhen Pierre d Ailly Jean Le Rond d Alembert John Damascene Damascius John of Damascus Peter Damian Danish philosophy Dante Alighieri Arthur Danto Arthur C. Danto Arthur Coleman Danto dao Daodejing Daoism Daoist philosophy Charles Darwin… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”