Two Treatises of Government by John Locke

Published 1689 · 91,563 words · about 5 hours at an average pace · Nonfiction, Philosophy, Politics & Society

How hard is Two Treatises of Government to read?

Two Treatises of Government scores 44 out of 100 for difficulty on ReadingRate, making it moderately challenging. The score is a weighted composite of nine measures: four of how hard the prose is to parse, five of how hard the meaning is to extract.

Vocabulary: 42 out of 100
17th-century philosophical prose.
Sentence structure: 45 out of 100
Abstraction: 58 out of 100
Abstract political theory.
Information density: 55 out of 100
Dense philosophical argument.
Narrative indirection: 100 out of 100
Systematic philosophical treatise.
Symbolic density: 12 out of 100
Analytical. Minimal symbolism.
Ironic distance: 80 out of 100
Earnest, systematic argument.
Resolution withholding: 80 out of 100
Clear prescriptions for legitimate government.
Structural complexity: 32 out of 100
Two treatises with systematic chapters.

How Two Treatises of Government is regarded

Two Treatises of Government holds a literary regard score of 80 out of 100, weighing its place in the canon, its critical reception, its influence on other writers, and the standing of its author. Regard is measured separately from difficulty: a demanding book is not necessarily an admired one.

About the author

John Locke