Thomas Paine.

He wrote many pamphlets and "Common Sense" seems to be the only one that actually makes sense. The others', though their logic some how works, are here there and everywhere.

Was he a genius, or was he insane?

Which is why he was a philosopher, and not a logician.

And technically, he would've had to say "Because in all absolute governments, the king is law, in a good goverment, law IS king." Which he didn't.

It's a very TRUE statement, but the laws of logics say that you can't inverse a wrong statement and thus it will be right.

How? That's completely valid. In absolute government, monarchs rule on everything based on a set of rules they can bend and stretch. In good governments, ALL, even those in charge, are ruled by a fair set of laws.

True. But let me give you an example of his logic. (This isn't word for word, by the way)

Because in all absolute governments, the king is law, in a good government, law should be king.

Okay, it's true. However, that's an logically invalid argument.

Common sense is a great work which has been given a tag of genius based on it's historical relavance. It is brilliant though. Just because his other works don't stand the "test of time" doesn't make him crazy. He was an important and required figure in the creation of our republic.

Basically all Thoreau says in Walden is that he lived in a forest without any possesions for a year so he is God and everyone should be more like him. He also contradicts himself about a thousand times.

He makes me want to gag.

I've read a couple of excerpts of "Walden" but other than that, no. I should get around to reading it some time. Of course, if I get the English teacher that both my sisters had, I'll here enough about Thoreau. The guy went to Walden's Pond and got upset that it was too crowded. So he forced his wife to get up at 5 am to go with him and see it in the beauty that Thoreau knew it.

Has anyone read Thoreau? That guy was not only a egomaniac, but also fecking crazy...

quote:

Originally posted by hubbabaloo:
I would agree, Rainbow.

I love when people agree with me.

I would agree, Rainbow.

I think he was brilliantly insane.

All the best are.

Err, sorta. It was devised into 4 parts. The first part was the origin of government and society. And how the monarchy is a ridiculous and opporessive form of government. The second part was about monarchy, hereditary succession, etc. The third part was about America and how it stands today, and how we would be better off independent from the British because the British government is domineering and economically draining without any real upsides. And the fourth part is about the logistics of the revolution. How, financially and economically, we would prepare for war against such an empire. How ready we are for such a war. He talks about the figures of guns, bombs, and ships we would need. And then he continues to talk about how the new government should be run. A Congress, a House, but nothing without the full voice of all the people. He firmly believed in equal representation, mostly because he despised government so much.

He also goes onto say that though we're British subjects, we must not take sides but be mediators. We should also make sure our stance as rebels aginst this empire is known to foriegn countries, keep trade with Britain, and know that France and Spain will not help us. (Which, though a good guess, was wrong. The French were pretty generous.)

I'm not sure, but wasn't Common Sense about how it was ridiculous for the British, who occupy a very small piece of land with a very limited population, to be dominating the entire world?

Exactly.

Ahhh. So objective crazy, not clinically crazy.

quote:

Originally posted by Euterpe:
No. Beethoven was angry, ill-tempered, mean, and suffered from illness almost all his life. He was not crazy.

All of the above. I think he had anger management problems. I call that crazy.

No. Beethoven was angry, ill-tempered, mean, and suffered from illness almost all his life. He was not crazy.

Beethoven was very insane. Yes he was.

quote:

Originally posted by hubbabaloo:
Sort of like Beethoven-Rembrandt insane. Make any sense what I'm trying to say?

Beethoven wasn't insane. Rembrandt, yeah. Van Gogh? Yup. Amadeus? Little bit, yeah. And I understand what you mean. Genius and insanity are always a thin line.

quote:

And he was probably not in good favor with the British Government. Which was probably a criminal offense.

Lol, not so much. Not when he was advocating the American Revolution. Although, I'm sure they didn't mind him being instrumental in the French revolution.