Cliquer sur une vignette pour aller sur Google Books.
|
Chargement... Thomas Paine's Rights of Man: A Biography (2006)par Christopher Hitchens
   Actuellement, il n'y a pas de discussions au sujet de ce livre.  markm2315 | Jul 1, 2023 |    ) 3Oranges | Jun 24, 2023 | [Hitchens] He also cannot decide whether the supposed preachings of the Nazarene are admirable or not. In general, he follows the custom of most deists in rating the sermons and maxims as moral and 'amiable'. Yet he cannot conceal his contempt for the most central tenet of Christianity, which is the morally hideous concept of scapegoating or 'vicarious atonement': [Paine] If I owe a person money, and cannot pay him, and he threatens to put me in prison, another person can take the debt upon himself and pay it for me. But if I have committed a crime, every circumstance of the case is changed. Moral justice cannot take the innocent for the guilty even if the innocent would offer itself. To suppose justice to do this, is to destroy the principle of its existence, which is the thing itself. It is no longer justice. It is indiscriminate revenge. [Hitchens] In other words, to hope to throw your sins upon another, especially if this involves a human sacrifice, is a grotesque evasion of moral and individual responsibility. (  ) andy_clark | Dec 31, 2020 | His writing was often uneven, but his voice (thanks to so many debates and interviews) live on. Cheers to Hitch. ( ) runningbeardbooks | Sep 29, 2020 | ) rabbit-stew | Mar 29, 2019 | aucune critique | ajouter une critique
Appartient à la sérieAppartient à la série éditoriale
Thomas Paine was one of the greatest advocates of freedom in history, and his Declaration of the Rights of Man, first published in 1791, is the key to his reputation. Inspired by his outrage at Edmund Burke's attack on the French Revolution, Paine's text is a passionate defense of man's inalienable rights. Since its publication, Rights of Man has been celebrated, criticized, maligned, suppressed, and co-opted. But here, polemicist and commentator Christopher Hitchens marvels at its forethought and revels in its contentiousness. Hitchens, a political descendant of the great pamphleteer, demonstrates how Paine's book forms the philosophical cornerstone of the United States, and how, "in a time when both rights and reason are under attack," Thomas Paine's life and writing "will always be part of the arsenal on which we shall need to depend." (New Statesman)--From publisher description. Aucune description trouvée dans une bibliothèque |
Discussion en coursAucunCouvertures populaires
 Google Books — Chargement...GenresClassification décimale de Melvil (CDD)323.5Social sciences Political Science Civil and political rights Political RightsClassification de la Bibliothèque du CongrèsÉvaluationMoyenne: (3.79)
Est-ce vous ?Devenez un(e) auteur LibraryThing. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2
The actual usage of Samuel Johnson's "...last refuge of a scoundrel" comment.
That the key to the Bastille hangs at Mt. Vernon to this day.
The origin of the association of May Day with labor.
That Paine may have coined the name, The United States of America.
Paine's involvement with the French Revolution and his imprisonment there.
The origin of the association of "left" and the "right" with liberal and conservative.
The actual usage of Karl Marx's "...opiate of the masses" comment.
The amount of the Declaration of Independence that comes from Locke.
In the discussion of The Age of Reason, CH cannot restrain himself from almost participating in Paine's attack on organized religion, but far from being a detriment to the work, I found it as much a pleasure as watching old videos of Hitchens on YouTube. (