| Thomas Paine is an outstanding Enlightenment thinker in later 18 centuries, a radical propertied class democrat. Later 18 centuries is a surging times of revolution in history in Europe and America, Thomas Paine is exactly living in those days. He participated the American independent war,France revolution ,and had an important push function in the revolutions. He carried out violent flaying on feudalism tradition from politics,economy,law and religion, expatiated the justice of bourgeois revolution ,put forward the project of country foundation with bourgeois democracy color .Rationality is a main line throughout Paine's thought. Paine emphasized the rationality, thinking that the rationality is an ability to judge the thing and to draw a clear distinction between right and wrong, put forward to establish the government﹑society taking rationality as the basal, and promoted the rational religious view .Paine's Enlightenment thought comprises of main parts: On politicals, Paine animadverted on monarchism pithily, taking natural rights as the foundation, called for North America people striving for independence from England, established a representative democracy republic on equal and free base. He associated independence with republic, associated a district race war with a republican age together on the bourgeoisie political system history, pushing the North America independent conflict at the peak of that times. on social and economical, Paine put forward a series of society reform project, to solve the social inequality problem, especially the gap between the rich and poor; developed education to solve poor ignorant and improve people's living level and culture character continuously. On the religion, Paine attacked Christian theocracy openly from the contradict of Holy Bible and fantastic aspect, he advocated"rational religion"; claimed freedom of belief resolutely, abrogated the state religion.Paine is successful as a thinker in spreading the voice of the ages. He pushed the tenor of Ameirican independent war and France revolution, encouraged the British radical reformation, his thought also influenced on European and American national developments subsequently to a certian extent. At the same time, Paine's special contributed on the theories of modern history thought, he should win a place for him. |
