DOCSLIB.ORG

Thomas Paine Was a Radical Writer

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Thomas Paine Was a Radical Writer Thomas Paine was a radical writer whose ideas grew out of the revolutionary times through which he lived and whose importance lay in his ability to move public opinion by reaching a readership beyond traditional elite politics.Edward Royle examines his impact on Liberalism and liberal thought. Thomas Paine aine was born into short period working as a teacher Thomas Paine so necessary to their livelihoods, an artisan family in in London, he was reappointed (1737–1809) and their resentment at the use Thetford, Norfolk, on in Lewes where he married his by the higher classes of paper bills 29 January 1737. His landlady’s daughter and helped and promissory notes. This fed father, a stay-maker run their tobacconist’s shop. into his anti-aristocratic politics Pand a Quaker, sent his son to the Bankruptcy, the breakdown of and his suspicion of paper money. local grammar school where he his marriage, and a second dis- Paine’s political ideal was always was well educated in English but missal from the Excise then led to be that of the small, independ- not in Latin, for his father did him to emigrate to Philadelphia ent producer, free from oppres- not approve of the pagan clas- in 1774. sion and exploitation from above sics. Thus spared learning the From this first stage in his and from poverty below. He had classical forms of rhetoric which life Paine took experiences that gained experience of the lat- were then conventional among shaped his subsequent politi- ter when he served on the vestry the educated, Paine’s later writ- cal thought. As an unenthusias- at Lewes where, among other ten style appeared to his con- tic member of the hated Excise things, he had to share in the temporaries as fresh, direct and Service, he knew at first hand administration of the poor law. open to the less well-educated the unfairness of the tax bur- Finally, he took from this first public. Its cadences and imagery den, and the oppressive power stage of his career experience of remain remarkably accessible to of the eighteenth-century state. organising and expressing pro- the modern reader. Following This may have predisposed him test, having taken up the cause the early death in 1760 of his first towards the Americans, whose of the excise officers, whose low wife, the daughter of an excise revolt against Britain was pro- pay contrasted unfavourably with officer, he applied to join the voked by the imposition of new that of the excise supervisors and Excise Service and in 1764 was excise duties. As an artisan and collectors. His first pamphlet was appointed to the Grantham dis- failed shopkeeper he also appreci- The Case of the Officers of the Excise trict. He was, however, soon dis- ated the economic insecurities of (1772) and it was while lobbying missed for allegedly neglecting small tradesmen, particularly the for this in London that he met his duties. Four years later, after a problem of the lack of coinage, Benjamin Franklin, the colonial Journal of Liberal History 67 Summer 2010 21 thomas paine agent for Pennsylvania, who gave in scientific experiments and importance, indeed, was written him an introduction to his friends in particular his plan for an iron up by the government for its own in Philadelphia. bridge. propagandist purposes. He was The new world that Paine Political events in France soon convicted of seditious libel in Sep- entered in 1774 would have created a new opportunity for his tember 1792, and, thereafter, sedi- seemed familiar to him, with literary talents. The revolution tious intent could be imputed to many of his English experiences of 1789 was widely welcomed any who sold his works or praised replicated in an enhanced form. in Britain, where friends of the his ideas. Philadelphia had a vibrant liter- American Revolution saw it as By September 1792, Paine had ary culture of newspapers and cof- another stage on the way to lib- moved on again and was in France fee houses in which the common erty and progress. But one such where, true to his principles, he issues of the day were discussed friend, Edmund Burke, took a supported the abolition of the much as they had been back in very different view. Sooner than monarchy but not the execution Lewes. Paine quickly grasped the most of his contemporaries, he of the king. As a member of the essence and tone of public affairs, saw that the French were tearing National Convention, he joined and was soon contributing to the up tradition and he feared for the the moderate Girondin fac- Pennsylvania Magazine. Then, in consequences of a rootless and tion and so fell foul of the more January 1776, he wrote the first of theory-based revolution founded extreme Jacobins, and for a time his three most significant works: on abstract rights. In November he was held in the Luxembourg a short pamphlet entitled Com- 1790 he published these doubts prison under sentence of death. It mon Sense, which denounced the as Reflections on the Revolution in was at this time that he composed oppressive government of George France. Paine was one of many his third great work, The Age of III and demanded an independ- to rush to refute this work, pub- Reason, written in two parts before ent America. This was more than lishing in February 1791 Part 1 and during his time in prison and all but a minority of Americans of Rights of Man, his second great published in 1794–95. In this work would have demanded at this time work of political propaganda. In he applied to Christianity and the but it caught the flow of opinion this work, and especially in Part 2, Bible the same remorseless logic and made Paine a key player in issued a year later, Paine employed and scathing prose with which events over the next few years. the same logic as he had earlier he had earlier attacked the Brit- Once the war had broken out applied to the American situa- ish monarchy and constitution. and was initially going badly for tion. The French were defended Ironically, Paine’s motivation the colonists, their spirit was ral- but, more importantly, the Brit- was conservative. He was writing lied by the encouraging rhetoric ish system was attacked. With a from within the British tradition of Paine’s Crisis papers, first pub- characteristically pithy aphorism of Natural Theology to support lished in the Pennsylvania Journal Paine pronounced that ‘An hered- belief in the God of Nature and in December 1776. The ringing itary governor is as inconsistent against the materialistic atheism tones with which the first Cri- as an hereditary author’ and he of philosophers like his friend sis paper opened – ‘These are dismissed Burke’s florid rhetoric Condorcet. But his popular lan- the times that try men’s souls’ – with the telling image: ‘He pit- guage proved a gift to his political ensured that Paine will always ies the plumage but forgets the opponents and an embarrassment have a place at the forefront of dying bird’. Rights of Man became Paine to many of his friends in Brit- modern English political propa- one of the most influential and ain and America, as his religious ganda. But he was not a diplomatic widely circulated political tracts essentially iconoclasm was branded atheism man and, whether from naivety or of the 1790s, with 200,000 cop- and used to discredit still further courageousness, he proved better ies said to have been sold in the belonged to his republican views. When Paine at making enemies than friends. first two years. Though this fig- was released in 1795 and returned He failed to appreciate that Amer- ure is probably an exaggeration, that growing to America, he found the country ica, like England, was an unequal it is certainly true that the work he had helped to shape cold and society and that the colonial lead- was widely distributed, reissued, number of unfriendly towards him. Only ers were neither so radical nor so and avidly read and discussed by a few loyal friends were there low born as the stay-maker from tradesmen and artisans in radi- radical free- to support him in his declining Norfolk. When he used state cal societies throughout urban years, which ended in New York papers to expose a corrupt arms Britain. Against the background market econ- in June 1809. deal with the French in 1778–79, of the war between Britain and Within Paine’s political writ- he was forced to resign as secre- France, and the threat of an Irish omists who ings, notably Rights of Man Part tary to the Committee on Foreign rising and a French invasion, derived their 2 and also the brief Agrarian Jus- Affairs, and when he defended the Paine’s advocacy proved to be tice (1796), there is a programme Bank of Pennsylvania’s refusal to both a blessing and a curse for ideas from for social and economic action. issue more paper money, he was British radicals: a blessing because Paine essentially belonged to that accused of forgetting the poor. it focused the argument against the Scottish growing number of radical free- Perhaps a little weary and disil- Burke and the British constitution market economists who derived lusioned with the conservatism of and gave it popular expression; Enlighten- their ideas from the Scottish the infant United States now it no a curse because its extremism Enlightenment and Adam Smith. longer needed – nor, apparently, could be used to tar even moder- ment and His economics, like his politics, valued – his support, he returned ate reformers (the majority) with were about the liberty of the to Europe to forward his interest the republican brush.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Revolutionary Networks in the Age of Revolutions
    REVOLUTIONARY NETWORKS IN THE AGE OF REVOLUTIONS Heather Freund University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign In Paris in 1790, the Marquis de Lafayette gave the key to the Bastille to Thomas Paine to present to George Washington. Paine wrote to Washington that it was “an early trophy of the Spoils of Despotism and the first ripe fruits of American principles transplanted into Europe...That the principles of America opened the Bastile [sic] is not to be doubted, and therefore the Key comes to the right place.”1 Paine and Lafayette knew each other, and Washington, through their participation in the American Revolution. Thus, the episode was a symbolic token of the connection between the American and French Revolutions and tangible evidence of lasting personal relationships in the Age of Revolutions.2 Along with Thaddeus Kosciuszko, Paine, and Lafayette are examples of individuals who participated in more than one theater of this revolutionary age. This paper focuses on how their international fights for liberty resulted in complex notions of personal and national identity and connections between revolutions. The fact that these individuals and others participated in more than one theater of the Age of Democratic Revolutions and recognized it as a time of great promise demonstrates its significance and the importance of understanding the dynamics of the period from both an individual and international perspective. Historians often refer to the period from approximately 1776-1830 as the Age of Atlantic Revolutions, a time in which people on both sides of the Atlantic rebelled in the name of liberty and equality, amongst other things.
    [Show full text]
  • Thomas Paine's Influential Rhetoric in Common Sense
    Revolutionary Persuasion: Thomas Paine’s Influential Rhetoric in Common Sense On January 10, 1776, an unknown English immigrant drastically altered the course of human events by publishing what has been referred to as the most influential pamphlet in American history. This man was Thomas Paine, and his pamphlet was titled Common Sense - two words which to this very day resonate as synonymous with American independence and freedom. Paine’s influential writing in Common Sense made an immediate impact on the minds and hearts of thousands of colonists throughout the densely populated eastern seaboard of North America, calling for an end to tyrannical British rule and for the subsequent foundation of an independent, egalitarian republic. Paine’s “hardnosed political logic demanded the creation of an American nation” (Rhetoric, np), and through his persuasive discourse he achieved just that. Paine’s knowledge and use of rhetorical skill was a main reason for the groundbreaking, widespread success of Common Sense, the magnitude of which, many would argue, has yet to be matched. Rhetoric is the art or science of persuasion and the ability to use language effectively. This paper will provide an in-depth analysis of Paine’s rhetoric in Common Sense by examining factors such as the historical time period, communicator attributes, and audience psychology, and will deliver a thorough application of contemporary modes of persuasive study to the document’s core ideological messages. To Paine, the cause of America was the cause of all mankind (Paine, 3), and for that matter he will be forever known as the father of the American Revolution.
    [Show full text]
  • Thomas Paine
    I THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE COLLECTED AND EDITED BY MONCURE DANIEL CONWAY AUTHOR OF L_THE LIFR OF THOMAS PAINE_ y_ _ OMITTED CHAPTERS OF HISTOIY DI_LOSED IN TH I_"LIFE AND PAPERS OF EDMUND RANDOLPH_ tt _GEORGE W_HINGTON AND MOUNT VERNON_ _P ETC. VOLUME I. I774-I779 G. P. Pumam's Sons New York and London _b¢ "lkntckcrbo¢#¢_ I_¢ee COPYRIGHT, i8g 4 BY G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS Entered at Stationers' Hall, London BY G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS CONTENTS. PAGB INTRODUCTION V PREFATORY NOTE TO PAINE'S FIRST ESSAY , I I._AFRICAN SLAVERY IN AMERICA 4 II.--A DIALOGUE BETWEEN GENERAL WOLFE AND GENERAL GAGE IN A WOOD NEAR BOSTON IO III.--THE MAGAZINE IN AMERICA. I4 IV.--USEFUL AND ENTERTAINING HINTS 20 V._NEw ANECDOTES OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT 26 VI.--REFLECTIONS ON THE LIFE AND DEATH OF LORD CLIVE 29 VII._CUPID AND HYMEN 36 VIII._DUELLING 40 IX._REFLECTIONS ON TITLES 46 X._THE DREAM INTERPRETED 48 XI._REFLECTIONS ON UNHAPPY MARRIAGES _I XII._THOUGHTS ON DEFENSIVE WAR 55 XIII.--AN OCCASIONAL LETTER ON THE FEMALE SEX 59 XIV._A SERIOUS THOUGHT 65 XV._COMMON SENSE 57 XVI._EPISTLE TO QUAKERS . I2I XVII.--THE FORESTER'SLETTERS • I27 iii _v CONTENTS. PAGE XVIII.mA DIALOGUE. I6I XIX.--THE AMERICAN CRISIS . I68 XX._RETREAT ACROSS THE DELAWARE 38I XXI.--LETTER TO FRANKLIN, IN PARIS . 384 XXII.--THE AFFAIR OF SILAS DEANE 39S XXIII.--To THE PUBLm ON MR. DEANE'S A_FAIR 409 XXIV.mMEssRs. DEANS, JAY, AND G_RARD 438 INTRODUCTION.
    [Show full text]
  • The Misunderstood Philosophy of Thomas Paine
    THE MISUNDERSTOOD PHILOSOPHY OF THOMAS PAINE A Thesis Presented to The Graduate Faculty of The University of Akron In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of History Jason Kinsel December, 2015 THE MISUNDERSTOOD PHILOSOPHY OF THOMAS PAINE Jason Kinsel Thesis Approved: Accepted: ______________________________ _____________________________ Advisor Dean of the College Dr. Walter Hixson Dr. Chand Midha ______________________________ ______________________________ Faculty Reader Dean of the Graduate School Dr. Martino-Trutor Dr. Chand Midha ______________________________ ______________________________ Department Chair Date Dr. Martin Wainwright ii ABSTRACT The name Thomas Paine is often associated with his political pamphlet Common Sense. The importance of “Common Sense” in regards to the American Revolution has been researched and debated by historians, political scientists, and literary scholars. While they acknowledge that Paine’s ideas and writing style helped to popularize the idea of separation from Great Britain in 1776, a thorough analysis of the entirety of Paine’s philosophy has yet to be completed. Modern scholars have had great difficulty with categorizing works such as, The Rights of Man, Agrarian Justice, and Paine’s Dissertation on First Principles of Government. Ultimately, these scholars feel most comfortable with associating Paine with the English philosopher John Locke. This thesis will show that Paine developed a unique political philosophy that is not only different from Locke’s in style, but fundamentally opposed to the system of government designed by Locke in his Second Treatise of Government. Furthermore, I will provide evidence that Paine’s contemporary’s in the American Colonies and Great Britain vehemently denied that Paine’s ideas resembled those of Locke in any way.
    [Show full text]
  • Agrarian Justice
    Thomas Paine AGRARIAN JUSTICE grundskyld.dk Digital edition 1999 by www.grundskyld.dk AUTHOR'S INSCRIPTION To the Legislature and the Executive Directory of the French Republic. THE plan contained in this work is not adapted for any particular country alone: the principle on which it is based is general. But as the rights of man are a new study in this world, and one needing protection from priestly imposture, and the insolence of oppression too long established, I have thought it right to place this little work under your safeguard. When we reflect on the long and dense night in which France and all Europe have remained plunged by their governments and their priests, we must feel less surprise than grief at the bewilderment caused by the first burst of light that dispels the darkness. The eye accustomed to darkness can hardly bear at first the broad daylight. It is by usage the eye learns to see, and it is the same in passing from any situation to its opposite. As we have not at one instant renounced all our errors, we cannot at one stroke acquire knowledge of all our rights. France has had the honour of adding to the word Liberty that of Equality; and this word signifies essentially a principal that admits of no gradation in the things to which it applies. But equality is often misunderstood, often misapplied, and often violated. Liberty and Property are words expressing all those of our possessions which are not of an intellectual nature. There are two kinds of property.
    [Show full text]
  • Teaching Tom Paine in the Age of Globalization
    Teaching Tom Paine in the Age of Globalization Thomas C. Walker Department of Political Science University at Albany, SUNY [email protected] Paper delivered by "A Nation of Immigrants: American Democracy and Civics Education." Florida Atlantic University's Jack Miller Forum for Civics Education, Boca Raton, Florida, January 28-31, 2009 Introduction When Thomas Paine died in 1809, he was a man nearly forgotten and surely abandoned by those who played important roles in the American Revolution. In a quiet ceremony, he was laid to rest in a simple grave on his farm in New Rochelle, New York. He did not, however, rest in peace. In 1819, William Cobbett, a zealous admirer of Paine’s political thought, secretly disinterred the remains and transported them back to England. Cobbett wanted to commemorate Paine’s life with a fitting monument and final resting place. But the monument was never built and what became of the remains has been reduced to speculation. One account tells of how some of his bones were refused for sale at auction in 1835, after which a Unitarian clergyman kept Paine’s skull and right hand in his library (Ayer, 1988:182). Another tells of an old woman who claimed to have 1 played with Tom Paine’s jawbone when she was a child (Fruchtman, 1994:435). This story of scattered remains seems to reflect Paine's incomplete legacy in the American classroom. Paine's Common Sense, published in January of 1776, often serves as the most convincing justification for the Declaration of Independence. Here Paine made his famous clarion call that “we have it in our power to make the world over again….” Many of his later works published during the French Revolution go largely un-noticed in American classrooms.
    [Show full text]
  • Thomas Paine, the American Crisis, #1, December 1776
    MAKING THE REVOLUTION: AMERICA, 1763-1791 PRIMARY SOURCE COLLECTION “These are the times that try men’s souls” New York Public Library Thomas Paine THE AMERICAN CRISIS, No. 1, 1776 Dec. 19, 1776: Published as a pamphlet in Philadelphia. Dec. 24, 1776: Read to Washington’s troops before the crossing of the Delaware River and victory in the Battle of Trenton. * HESE are the times that try men’s souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink T from the service of his country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: It is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to set a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed, if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated. Britain, with an army to enforce her tyranny, has THE CRISIS #1 declared, that she has a right (not only to TAX) but “to BIND us in ALL CASES WHATSOEVER,”1 and if being bound in that 1776 manner is not slavery, then is there not such a thing as slavery upon earth. Even the expression is impious, for so unlimited a power can belong only to GOD. Whether the Independence of the Continent was declared too soon or delayed too long, I will not now enter into as an argument; my own simple opinion is that had it been eight months earlier, it would have been much better.
    [Show full text]
  • COMMON SENSE Thomas Paine
    COMMON SENSE Thomas Paine edited by Edward Larkin broadview editions Appendix B: Responses to Common Sense 1. [Charles Inglis], The True Interest ofAmerica Impartially Stat­ ed, in Certain Strictures on a Pamphlet In titled Common Sense (Philadelphia: Humphreys, 1776) [An Anglican minister and later rector of Trinity Church in New York, Charles Inglis published a number of pamphlets and essays in opposition to the Revolution. He arrived in the colonies in 1775 just months before the publication of Common Sense. He published The Tme Interest about a month after Paine's pamphlet appeared. Like many Tories, Inglis left for Nova Scotia during the War of Indepen­ dence. Below are selected sections of The True Interest which in its entirety was about as long as the text of Common Sense. These selec­ tions are taken from the second edition, published by James Humphreys.] PREFACE THE following pages contain an answer to one ifthe most ariful, insid­ ious and pernicious pamphlets I have ever met with. It is addressed to the passions of the populace, at a time when their passions are much inflamed. At such junctures, cool reason and judgment are too apt to sleep: The mind is easily imposed on and the most violent measures will, therefore, be thought the most salutary. Positive assertions will pass for demonstration with many, rage for sincerity, and the most glaring absurdities and falshoods will be swallowed. The author if COMMON SENSE, has availed himself ifall these cir­ cumstances. Under the mask iffriendship to America, in the present calami­ tous situation of affairs, he gives vent to his own private resentment and ambition, and recommends a scheme which must i/"!fallibly prove minous.
    [Show full text]
  • The Libertarian Case for a Universal Basic Income.”
    SPRING 2017 NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW “ATLAS NODS: THE LIBERTARIAN CASE FOR A BASIC INCOME” Miranda Perry Fleischer University of San Diego School of Law April 17, 2017 Vanderbilt Hall – 208 Time: 4:10 – 6:00 p.m. Week 12 SCHEDULE FOR 2017 NYU TAX POLICY COLLOQUIUM (All sessions meet from 4:10-6:00 pm in Vanderbilt 208, NYU Law School) 1. Monday, January 23 – Lily Batchelder, NYU Law School. “Accounting for Behavioral Biases in Business Tax Reform: The Case of Expensing.” 2. Monday, January 30 – Mark Gergen, Berkeley Law School. “How to Tax Global Capital.” 3. Monday, February 6 – Alan Auerbach, Berkeley Economics Department. “U.S. Inequality, Fiscal Progressivity, and Work Disincentives: An Intragenerational Accounting.” 4. Monday, February 13 – Allison Christians, McGill Law School. “Human Rights at the Borders of Tax Sovereignty” 5. Tuesday, February 21 – Jason Oh, UCLA Law School. "Are the Rich Responsible for Progressive Marginal Rates?" 6. Monday, February 27 – Stephen Shay, Harvard Law School. “’A Better Way’ Tax Reform: Theory and Practice.” 7. Monday, March 6 – Scott Dyreng, Duke Business School. “Trade-offs in the Repatriation of Foreign Earnings.” 8. Monday, March 20 – Daniel Hemel, University of Chicago Law School. "Federalism Safeguards of Progressive Taxation." 9. Monday, March 27 – Leonard Burman, Urban Institute. “Is U.S. Corporate Income Double- Taxed?” 10. Monday, April 3 – Kathleen Delaney Thomas, University of North Carolina Law School. “Taxing the Gig Economy.” 11. Monday, April 10 – Julie Cullen, UC San Diego Department of Economics. “Political Alignment and Tax Evasion.” 12. Monday, April 17 – Miranda Perry Fleischer, University of San Diego Law School.
    [Show full text]
  • The Limits of Revolutionary Radicalism: Tom Paine and Slavery
    The Limits of Revolutionary Radicalism: Tom Paine and Slavery N THE TWO HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY of Thomas Paine's birth, Mt. Rushmore sculptor Gutzon Borglum prepared in 1937 Oto unveil his eight-foot masterpiece of Paine in Paris. Delays and postponements gave way to Nazi invasion and Paine's likeness remained hidden in a small room until 1948, when it was erected in a Paris park. Over four decades later, the United States Congress prepared to accept the statue and place it in the United States Capitol art collection, to be featured temporarily in the rotunda of the Capitol. The congressional resolution accepting the gift praised Paine's contributions and, in doing so, revealed popular and academic misconceptions of his writings and vision. "Congress," it declared, "should recognize the seminal role Thomas Paine played in the founding of our nation as well as his advocacy for individual rights and liberty worldwide"; for he was the first to insist on a written constitution "to protect the civil, religious, and property rights of people of all races." Paine's status, Congress erroneously concluded, "is further enhanced by his work as [an] . abolitionist." By proclaiming Paine an abolitionist and racial egalitarian, Congress perpetuated his mythical antislavery position.1 Paine's reputation has not always sparkled so brightly. Reacting mostly to his Rights of Man 2nd Age ofReasony early biographers accentuated Paine's faults, publicizing rumors of intemperance and offensive personal habits. His degraded reputation persisted until Moncure Conway published a For their insightful criticisms and encouragement the author wishes to thank Lance Banning, William Freehling, Philip Hading, Stuart Knee, and Daniel B.
    [Show full text]
  • Condorcet and I - a Fictional Conversation Between Condorcet and Me: on the Outlines of an Historical View of the Progress of the Human Mind Michael S
    Rollins College Rollins Scholarship Online Master of Liberal Studies Theses Spring 2015 Condorcet and I - A Fictional Conversation between Condorcet and Me: on the Outlines of an Historical View of the Progress of the Human Mind Michael S. Christopher Rollins College, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarship.rollins.edu/mls Part of the Fiction Commons Recommended Citation Christopher, Michael S., "Condorcet and I - A Fictional Conversation between Condorcet and Me: on the Outlines of an Historical View of the Progress of the Human Mind" (2015). Master of Liberal Studies Theses. 63. http://scholarship.rollins.edu/mls/63 This Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by Rollins Scholarship Online. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master of Liberal Studies Theses by an authorized administrator of Rollins Scholarship Online. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Condorcet and I A Fictional Conversation between Condorcet and Me on the Outlines of an Historical View of the Progress of the Human Mind A Project Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Liberal Studies by Michael S. Christopher May, 2015 Mentor: Dean, Patrick Powers Reader: Dr. Eric Smaw Rollins College Hamilton Holt School Master of Liberal Studies Program Winter Park, Florida 2 Condorcet and I A Fictional Debate between Condorcet and Me on the Outlines of an Historical View of the Progress of the Human Mind ________________________________________________________________
    [Show full text]
  • Left-Libertarianism: a Review Essay
    BARBARA H. FRIED Left-Libertarianism: A Review Essay I. INTRODUCTION Peter Vallentyne and Hillel Steiner's two-volume collection of historical and contemporary works on left-libertarianism formally marks the emergence over the past two decades of a theory of distributive justice that seeks to harness the premises of the libertarian right to the political agenda of the egalitarian left. Its proponents and sympathetic fellow travelers include (in addition to Vallentyne and Steiner) Philippe Van Parijs, Allan Gibbard, Michael Otsuka, Baruch Brody, and James Grunebaum, among others. Vallentyne and Steiner draw together a wealth of interesting material, intelligently situated in the excellent introductory essays and sum- maries provided by the editors. The first volume, The Origins of Left- Libertarianism, contains writings from a number of historical figures whom Vallentyne and Steiner correctly identify as intellectual forebears. In this group are John Locke, early agrarian radicals Thomas Paine and William Ogilvie, liberal socialists of the mid-nineteenth century includ- ing Hippolyte Colins, Leon Walras and Francois Huet, and left-liberal radical land reformers including J. S. Mill, (the early) Herbert Spencer, and, most famously, Henry George. The volume brings to the fore a long This article considers The Origins of Left-Libertarianism: An Anthology of Historical Writings and Left-Libertarianism and its Critics: The Contemporary Debate both edited by Peter Vallentyne and Hillel Steiner (New York: Palgrave, 2000), hereinafter V&S or V&SII. Earlier versions were presented at faculty workshops at Boston University, University of Michigan, Stanford University and New York University law schools. I am grateful to par- ticipants in those workshops, as well as to Elizabeth Anderson, Joseph Bankman, Hugh Baxter, Thomas Grey, Don Herzog, Mark Kelman, Gary Lawson, Debra Satz, Bill Simon and the Editors of Philosophy & Public Affairs for their very helpful comments.
    [Show full text]