‘Full of Contradiction, or Confusion, or Both’: Rethinking the Political Thought of Robert Filmer

Abstract

This article offers a novel interpretation of Robert Filmer’s political thought. I argue that, rather than identifying kings with biological fathers, Filmer bases his theory on a distinctive conception of fatherhood as a right of dominium and on a distinction between ordinary and ‘supreme’ fatherhood. I show that he only fully develops this theory in the second manuscript version of Patriarcha through an engagement with Grotius and Selden and that these ideas distinguish him from other early Stuart patriarchal thinkers. The article also analyses how his views on tyranny, usurpation, and forms of government evolve in relevant ways over time, identifying a shift in his position from a de facto theory of authority to a de facto theory of obedience.