The Levellers | Richard A. Gleissner (essay date 1980)
Richard A. Gleissner (essay date 1980)
SOURCE: "The Levellers and Natural Law: The Putney Debates of 1647," in The Journal of British Studies, Vol. XX, No. 1, Fall 1980, pp. 74-89.
[In the following essay, Gleissner investigates the Levellers' understanding and application of the concept of natural law to their political agenda. Gleissner examines in particular the way this topic was addressed at the 1647 debates in Putney between Leveller leaders and key figures in the New Model Army, including Oliver Cromwell.]
Natural law is one of the oldest concepts in Western philosophy. When the Psalmist asked Yahweh, "What is man that Thou art mindful of him," he was struggling with the same problem that occupied thoughtful men in Greece: the need to understand man as he is and in his potentiality. Unlike the unknown Biblical poet, however, Plato and Aristotle found an answer with the aid of reason rather than revelation. For them, man is an...
[The entire page is 8936 words long]
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