Thomas Paine (January 29, 1737 (NS February 9, 1737) – June 8, 1809) was an English American author, pamphleteer, radical, inventor, intellectual, revolutionary, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He has been called "a corsetmaker by trade, a journalist by profession, and a propagandist by inclination."
Born in Thetford, in the English county of Norfolk, Paine immigrated to the British American colonies in 1774 in time to participate in the American Revolution. His principal contributions were the powerful, widely read pamphlet Common Sense (1776), the all-time best-selling American book that advocated colonial America's independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain, and The American Crisis (1776–1783), a pro-revolutionary pamphlet series. "Common Sense" was so influential that John Adams said, "Without the pen of the author of 'Common Sense,' the sword of Washington would have been raised in vain.”
Paine lived in France for most of the 1790s, becoming deeply involved in the French Revolution. He wrote the Rights of Man (1791), in part a defense of the French Revolution against its critics. His attacks on British writer Edmund Burke led to a trial and conviction in absentia for the crime of seditious libel. Despite not speaking French, he was elected to the French National Convention in 1792. The Girondists regarded him as an ally, so, the Montagnards, especially Robespierre, regarded him as an enemy. In December of 1793, he was arrested and imprisoned in Paris, then released in 1794. He became notorious because of The Age of Reason (1793–94), his book that advocates deism, promotes reason and freethinking, argues against institutionalized religion and Christian doctrines. He also wrote the pamphlet Agrarian Justice (1795), discussing the origins of property, and introduced the concept of a guaranteed minimum income.
In 1802 he returned to America where he died on June 8, 1809. Only six people attended his funeral as he had been ostracized for his ridicule of Christianity.
The Anglo-American writer and political theorist Thomas Paine (1737-1809) boldly spoke out for social and political reforms, and played an active role in the American War of Independence. His great and highly influential pamphlet, Common Sense, published in January 1776, was the first bold, explicit assault on monarchical rule, and the first advocacy of the American colonies' independence from Britain.
Written in clear language, Common Sense laid out how an independent government could be established and controlled by the people, and how rich and poor alike could share equally in privileges and duties. It was Paine's enlightened contention that in order to ensure liberty, no special preferments should be attached to any one religious sect, but that religious diversity should be respected.
作者给这本书起这个名字,是大有见识和信心的表现。要知道,作为书中主要内容的民主共和制在当时仅仅是一个有争议的话题,如今第一军事强国的美国在当时还在为要不要脱离英国独立而犹豫和恐惧,如今政治经济上覆雨翻云的美国联邦政府在当时不过是一个松散的殖民地同盟。然而,...
評分本书写与1776年,独立宣言发表的那年,与独立宣言一起,成为北美人民反抗英国殖民统治的号角与檄文。 本书目的就是割断当时北美人对英国以及英国式政体的迷信、畏惧,以及幻想和依恋,劝说美国人用自己的力量创造一个崭新的共和国。就像劝慰一个18岁的青年,放弃对家庭和父母...
評分有些名著不是很难读,比如潘恩的《常识》,内容确实如书名所言,全是常识,但这些常识是就今天而言的,在此书出版的年代,也就前一年莱克星顿的枪声打响之后的1776年1月,这本书所具有的震撼人心的作用是今人所不可想象的,彼时的人们,包括许多建国先贤,还都处于要不要与...
評分首先,翻译得太差了。 改天等自己英文进步的时候再看英文版的。 书中论述的政府、人与社会的关系大概是人人都能看懂的。我现在明白为什么美国人时时刻刻处处讲自由民主人权,因为他们的国家就是在这样的思考下诞生的。 相比之下,我们的国家似乎因为历史的悠久反而丧失了思考的...
評分被感恩与被唾弃的托马斯·潘恩! 中国人据说(如本书的评语)很神经病地喜欢他。 外国人据说很神经质地反对他! 常识只具有历史性的小读本,它的重要是因为它讲出了懒散的人没有去再讲的话。道理人人都懂,这叫常识。但讲得明白,讲得有情有理有节有热情的,不容易。 独立与和...
本站所有內容均為互聯網搜索引擎提供的公開搜索信息,本站不存儲任何數據與內容,任何內容與數據均與本站無關,如有需要請聯繫相關搜索引擎包括但不限於百度,google,bing,sogou 等
© 2025 book.quotespace.org All Rights Reserved. 小美書屋 版权所有