Patriarcha
Patriarcha
1680 book by Robert Filmer
Patriarcha, or The Natural Power of Kings is a 1680 book by the English philosopher Robert Filmer, defending the divine right of kings on the basis that all modern states' authority derived from the Biblical patriarchs (whom he saw as Adam's heirs), history and logic. Concurrently, he criticized rival theories claiming the basis of a state should be the consent of the governed or social contract.