The Rights of Man

Name: The Rights of Man
ISBN: 9787532776788

Thomas Paine / 乐国斌Shanghai Translation Publishing House · ChinaFeb 2018

4.3

Word count: 133K words
Chapters: 14
ISBN: 9787532776788

Report an error Find this book

Summary

Rights of Man is Thomas Paine's mature and systematic work of political thought. In it he rebuts Edmund Burke's attack on the French Revolution in Reflections on the Revolution in France, sets out the revolution's epoch-making significance, and establishes the book as one of the guiding works of the Enlightenment. "It broke the spell that the British constitutional monarchy then cast over progressive thinkers throughout the Western world, criticized that system of government in depth, and pointed the still-groping French Revolution toward a new republican direction." British media once ranked it among the ten books that changed the world, on a par with Capital.

Editor's review

Thomas Paine's Rights of Man is a landmark of Enlightenment political philosophy whose influence has endured for more than two centuries. This Shanghai Translation Publishing House edition has been newly collated and translated by a noted scholar; it retains Paine's trenchant style while suiting contemporary Chinese reading habits. The book is no abstract treatise but Paine's direct reply to Edmund Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France. Its greatest value lies in bringing the idea of natural rights out of the philosophical study and into the arena of practical political debate. With eloquent logic Paine argues for the legitimacy of popular sovereignty, the essential difference between society and government, and the claim that universal rights should not be bound by tradition. Readers should note that the book was written at the intersection of the French Revolution and the North American independence movement, and its radical democratic ideas were highly subversive at the time. In the editor's view, what most deserves contemporary readers' reflection is Paine's argument on intergenerational justice: one generation has no right to bind the political choices of those who follow, a view that still offers important lessons for thinking about institutional change and the legitimacy of reform. His critique of monarchy and hereditary rule is fierce, yet its core demand, building just government through rational debate, remains a cornerstone of political civilization.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Researchers interested in the history of Enlightenment political thought
Readers seeking to understand the origins of modern democratic theory
Intellectuals concerned with the evolution of the idea of human rights
Advanced students of political philosophy and jurisprudence

Not a good fit for

Casual readers looking for light, popular fare
Readers who fully embrace the conservative political tradition

Reading tips

Familiarize yourself first with the historical background of the 18th-century revolutions in Europe and America
Read alongside Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France for comparison
Pay special attention to the early proposals for social security in Part Two

About the publisher

Shanghai Translation Publishing House China · Founded in 1978

Shanghai Translation Publishing House is a Chinese publisher oriented mainly toward translation and publishing. Its publications cover foreign literature, world classics and classic works, as well as social culture, folk literature and classical poetry. The database contains 2,618 titles, including Never Let Me Go, Les Misérables (2 volumes), Don Quixote (illustrated collector's edition), The Complete Comedies of Molière (4 volumes), The Complete Novels of Kafka (3 volumes), The Collected Works of Dostoevsky (9-volume set), Reason and Persons, and Oedipus Rex (Translation Classics). Its author resources include foreign writers such as Kazuo Ishiguro, Victor Hugo, Cervantes and Molière, as well as translators such as Zheng Kelu, Sun Jiameng, Li Jianwu and Zhang Kun. The publisher has brands such as "Translation Classics Selections" and "Translation Documentary," and emphasizes translated works in foreign literature and the humanities and social sciences, while also publishing bilingual dictionaries and foreign-language educational books. Public information is limited; the above is based on the book information in the database.

版权信息
第一部分
序言
杂记
结论
第二部分原则与实践相结合
序言
引言
第一章关于社会和文明
第二章关于现存旧政府的起源
第三章关于政府的新旧体制
第四章关于宪法
第五章关于改善欧洲现状之途径的一些杂想
后记

FAQ

How does this book differ from Common Sense?

Common Sense focuses on the practical mobilization for American independence, whereas Rights of Man systematically sets out Paine's political philosophy and is more theoretical.

Can non-specialist readers understand it?

Paine writes in the style of newspaper political polemic, plain and forceful, but the book involves many historical events and political concepts, so background reading is recommended.

What are the features of this translation?

The Shanghai Translation edition uses scholarly translation and annotation, adding notes on historical figures and analyses of key concepts, which helps readers grasp the text's thread.

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Thomas Paine Author · English-American · 1737–1809

Thomas Paine (1737–1809) was an English-born American writer, political pamphleteer and thinker, with 11 works available on this site. He went to North America in 1774 and in 1776 published Common Sense, which argued for independence and deeply influenced the American Revolution; during the war he wrote the American Crisis series to boost morale. He later wrote Rights of Man, defending the French Revolution and republicanism, and was consequently wanted in Britain; The Age of Reason set out his deist views. His works, known for political argument, philosophy and literature, are direct and forceful in style and are classified under politics, foreign literature, philosophy and psychology. He returned to America in 1802 and died in poverty in New York in 1809.

乐国斌 Author

Le Guobin is an author about whom limited public information is available. Two of his works are currently held in the collection, commonly classified under foreign literature and politics. His representative works include the Thomas Paine Trilogy and The Rights of Man, both centered on Thomas Paine's thought and writings, indicating a sustained interest in translating and introducing classic works of foreign political thought. Judging from the existing titles, Le Guobin's work is closer to organizing and presenting original political texts in Chinese than to writing original theory; the subject matter focuses on ideas of rights, political institutions, and intellectual history, with an emphasis on conveying the texts themselves and their intellectual context. As his dates of birth and death, nationality, and professional background are not clearly documented, a full assessment of his scholarly identity and complete body of translated work remains difficult, and readers may turn to these two works to understand his editorial orientation and thematic priorities.