Natural Rights Liberalism from Locke to Nozick

Natural rights theory holds that individuals have certain rights-to life, liberty, and property-in virtue of their human nature rather than on account of prevailing laws or conventions. Arguably, this idea had been recognized in nascent form by ancient Greek and Medieval thinkers, but theories of natural rights came into true prominence in the early modern era when they were advanced by seminal thinkers such as Grotius, Hobbes, and Pufendorf. Most influential was the English philosopher John Locke, who published his Second Treatise of Government in 1690.