Sunday, September 27, 2009

Common Sense by Thomas Paine

In Common Sense by Thomas Paine, one of the major theme is how people lack the ability to use their common Sense.

In the beginning of time, the reason of society was for equality. Society was used as a means to live. People would come together and make a society so that they would work together to feed and protect themselves. This was the base of government, it was out of necessity. Out of that necessity they built themselves a government. At first, laws weren't needed because of trust. Societies were relatively small so laws weren't needed. They would pick a "stone house" where all of people of that society would meet. However as society grew, no longer would they fit in the "stone house" so now there was a need for Representatives. The job of a Representative was to represent the people, and the representative would be elected. As society grew, no longer did the people have faith in trust, so laws were a necessity. The American colonies, to avoid mistakes the English had made, would first elect a President, key word is elect. Then they would have a "Continental Conference" in which they would produce a "Continental Charter"

All men essentially come from the same place, the mother's womb, and with that in mind, all men are created equal. In a religious sense, this world is a test of man's will. The man's ability to choses from right and wrong, to make prudent choices, to have courage, and to be just. Man is only to have God, who is in control. Thomas Paine points out, that man makes a huge mistake, that to have a man act like God, a man from the mother's womb, to act like God-Almighty is sin. In any religion that is true, especially in the Islamic religion, where there is one God and Muhammad SWT is the last Prophet. It is a sin in any case to put a man in God's shoes. Thomas Paine uses this to prove his point that people need to use their common sense.

Society is produced by our wants, by what we find that makes us happy. On the other hand, Government is produced by as Paine says "our Wickedness." The role of society is to unite voice of the people were as government is to restrict our voice. Paine talks a great deal about how man is guilty of confusing government with society, how man has not the ability to practice common sense. A gift that even when man was in the state of nature had and they used it. They joined together because it was common sense, that if they didn't they would die or hungry or sickness. But as a colony they would thrive, because they were united, and there rights were protected.

Thomas even goes to help the English, that if they used there common sense, that they wouldn't be in the mess that they made. That if the English didn't extend their power, that there would be no issues. Yet with time man has lost the simply ability to practice their sense of judgment. If the English looked not in their wallets, they would have a more successful colony. A better relationship would exist, and fighting would be prominent.


Does Paine make an effective argument?

The effectiveness of Paine argument doesn't come from his 22 pages, rather it comes from he idea. The idea of common sense, that people in modern society have lost the ability to practice it. Man at nature is like an animal, but man has a gift and that gift is common sense. The ability to make judgments on the spot that would be beneficial rather then detrimental. It is not rational when one has the ability to do something, and yet they are reluctant to do it. If man were to "wake up and smell the coffee" no longer would problems like this exist. Our class discussion was appropriate to this topic. In the respect, that the reader has to dissect line by line to fully understand to meaning of his writing.


-afgspot

3 comments:

  1. You are improving your grammar and diction very much as you make entries. You need to keep working on it.

    The ideas here are very solid. I liked the way you used the idea of common sense to explain how men create governments. That is was just common sense to get rid of the king.

    Not bad 17/20

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