Mention Books Supposing Rights of Man (Great Books in Philosophy)
| Original Title: | Rights of Man |
| ISBN: | 0543954617 (ISBN13: 9780543954619) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Series: | Great Books in Philosophy |
Thomas Paine
Paperback | Pages: 229 pages Rating: 4.03 | 9374 Users | 176 Reviews
Declare Containing Books Rights of Man (Great Books in Philosophy)
| Title | : | Rights of Man (Great Books in Philosophy) |
| Author | : | Thomas Paine |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Deluxe Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 229 pages |
| Published | : | November 29th 2000 by Adamant Media Corporation (first published 1791) |
| Categories | : | Philosophy. Politics. Nonfiction. Classics. History |
Relation Concering Books Rights of Man (Great Books in Philosophy)
“The World is my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion.”The ruling governments have no special rights; they have no privileges and they have no entitlements. At least, they ought not to have according to Paine. For him the government exists to serve; it has a duty to its nation the same way a solider or a peacekeeper may have. And if they break that duty, if they become corrupt, then it is our moral right to call for revolution.
“Whatever is my right as a man is also the right of another; and it becomes my duty to guarantee as well as to possess.”
-"Liberty Leading the People" by Eugène Delacroix, 1830
Revolution is permissible then if the government does not protect the natural rights of man, rights of liberty and society. Why should we exist under the thumb of another man? Paine speaks openly about revolution and argues that the French revolution was an attack against the monarchy as a construct not an attack on the French King specifically. It was politically driven and when the Bastille was taken, it was a supposed symbolic end of an age of imprisonment. The bars of the prison were opened and liberty began, at least, in theory.
Paine was part of a large liberal wave that poured through the west at this time. He despised the idiotic Burke and his Reflections of a Revolution in France. In contrast to Burke’s conservatism, Paine argue that each new generation has the right to choose how they will be governed. Just because our ancestors agreed to something, it doesn’t mean that the people of the present are beholden to it.
His arguments are sound and his intentions benevolent, though I would love no know what he thought of the aftermath of the French Revolution. The dreams of liberty were truly shattered. The only real limiting factor of this work is its complete lack of rhetoric and persuasive devices. Paine was not a very creative writer; he gives you his ideas but he certainly doesn’t sell them to you.
Rating Containing Books Rights of Man (Great Books in Philosophy)
Ratings: 4.03 From 9374 Users | 176 ReviewsAssessment Containing Books Rights of Man (Great Books in Philosophy)
7/10I would not want to be on the receiving end of the retort, as Mr. Burke was. Systematically and convincingly, Paine moves from point to point and utterly destroys all of Burkes arguments, making Burke look the fool. In so doing, Paine provides the basis for the government by which America was founded, most strikingly in his stance that "all men are created equal", a phrase which the founders borrowed exactly. More then this however, his general argument, that the government should for thePaines political manifesto details how governments and hierarchies are, in his opinion, corrupt, as they rely on the power of a few rather than of everyone equally. He devises a plan where the elite few, who often gain power through birth rights, to have their control abolished and a democratic, representative and equal community created in its place, where every person has an equal say and an equal part in the running of the community. Power to all or power to none!The latter part of this
In an age of brilliant political writers, Paine, a naturalized American citizen and inspired propagandist for the American Revolutionary cause, represents perhaps the eras most radical and unfiltered ideological voice. Written in the immediate aftermath of the French Revolution and the somewhat removed aftermath of the American, The Rights of Man, published in two parts (1791 and 1792) is one of Thomas Paines most influential treatises on the nature and form of just government. In it, Paine
Written in response to Edmund Burke's "Reflections on the French Revolution," Paine obliterates the ideology of monarchical government. I probably should have read Burke's piece first to get a better understanding of Paine's counter-arguments, but this still provides a solid philosophical analysis of the role of government and the origin of sovereignty. He even goes to the length that countries start wars to increase their coffers from taxes, an interesting position I had not considered before.
Natural rights are nonsense on stilts. Still, Paines attacks on monarchy and privilege are fun.
Under what circumstances is political revolution permissible? What should the people do when a government no longer safeguards the rights of all classes? I look at the turmoil that is going on in America right now and wish that our elected officials would read this book; perhaps this old ideological 'midwife' could help our country now - as it labors to give birth to our future.
Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France, 1790 Thomas Paine, Rights of Man, 1791 These two pamphlets represent the premier bare-knuckle political prize-fight of its time. In the blue corner Irish statesman and Whig grandee, aesthetic theorist and small-C conservative, it's the Dublin Dynamo, Edmund Berserk Burke. And in the red corner the stay-maker's son from rural Norfolk, the world's first true international revolutionary, delivering the right hooks of man, it's Thomas Max
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