Common Sense
The Merriam-ebster Online Dictionary defines common sense as: "the unreflective opinions of ordinary people," and "sound and prudent but often unsophisticated judgment." hile this definition is reflective of the nature of common sense, it does not begin to reveal the complexities of the subjectivity of the term, and the tendency to cite common sense as a justification for stereotypes, both of which reflect the social perspective of the speaker.
The greatest difficulty with an understanding of common sense is that the term is often highly subjective. One person's common sense is another person's falsehood or misleading statement. For example, a person who supports same sex marriage may argue that it is only 'common sense' that people should be allowed to marry whomever they want. However, a fundamentalist Christian may not be able to draw the same 'common sense' conclusion, because their religion opposes same sex unions.
Most nations have let slip the opportunity, and have been compelled to receive laws from their conquerors (Paine).
Democracy, the republic, voting, the Supreme Court, debate, etc. are no longer foreign concepts -- the great American "experiment" of 1776 still exists, so contemporary readers do not find issues of individual liberty and law to be either controversial or strange. Common Sense was a seminal event in the way the entire framework of the new government, and the Constitution were formed. "In short, Independence is the only BOND that can tie and keep us together" (Paine).
The Constitution, however, remains the seminal document with which the country is governed and laws interpreted. Some even call it a "living" document because it is continually reinterpreted and amended to fit the social, legal, and cultural needs of society -- likely something Paine would only imagine. That a document such of this could have been…...
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Works Cited
King, R. And E. Begler, Common Sense for the Modern Era. San Diego, CA: San Diego University Press, 2007.
Paine, T. "Common Sense." n.d. Google.Com. April 2011 .
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To quote the Encyclopedia of World Biography's entry on Thomas Paine (2004) "his contributions included an attack on slavery and the slave trade. His literary eloquence received recognition with the appearance of his 79-page pamphlet titled Common Sense (1776). Here was a powerful exhortation for immediate independence. Americans had been quarreling with Parliament; Paine now redirected their case toward monarchy and to George III himself -- a 'hardened, sullen tempered Pharaoh.' The pamphlet revealed Paine's facility as a phrasemaker -- 'The Sun never shined on a cause of greater worth"; 'Oh ye that love mankind... that dare oppose not only tyranny but the tyrant, stand forth!' -- but it was also buttressed by striking diplomatic, commercial, and political arguments from separation from Britain."
Paine, as I see it, passionately wrote the Common Sense, with convincing argument against the oppressive nature of monarchy as well as the inevitability of the new colonies…...
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References
Common Sense (2005). West's Encyclopedia of American Law. The Gale Group, Inc.
Wood, G. (2002). The American Revolution: A History. New York: Modern Library.
Nelson, C. (2007). Thomas Paine: Enlightenment, Revolution, and the Birth of Modern Nations. New York: Penguin Books.
Paine, T. (2007 ed.) Common Sense. BiblioBazaar, LLC.
New York: Penguin, 2007.
Author of different academic studies and having an important scholar background, Nelson tries to point out the personality of the creator of "Common sense." Thus, he not only places him in the position of the politician, but also in that of the men. Nelson's perspective comes to complete Kaye's because both of them take into account, more or less, the human side of Thomas Paine, aside from the important issues that he generated in the American history. From this perspective, it is important to conclude the fact that indeed the political work was essential for the country, but it couldn't have been the result of anything but Paine's own experience and personality.
Lewis, Joseph. Inspiration and isdom from the ritings of Thomas Paine. New York, Freethought Press Association, 1954.
Joseph Lewis was one of the most important personalities in terms of analysis of ideas that revolutionized the philosophical…...
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Works Cited
Claeys, Gregory. Thomas Paine: social and political thought. London: Routledge, 1989.
Kaye, Harvey. "Founding Father." American Heritage, Oct 2005. Vol. 56, issue 5, p 66-68
Kaye, Harvey. Thomas Paine and the promise of America. New York: Hill and Wang, 2005.
Larkin, Edward. Thomas Paine and the literature of revolution. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005.
Common Sense
In the United States of America, the workplace used to be a serious location, but one where warmth and friendship could develop. Perhaps even romance could bloom between persons who worked in the same office. hen someone was slightly injured, a band-aid would be placed on the cut or a sprained ankle would be taped up and that would be the end of it. However, that is not the case in the modern age because people are so overly eager to get money for injury or incident. hen someone is hurt nowadays at the workplace or a young man asks a girl for coffee, it is not common sense that serves as the driving force, but the desire for money and the ability to sue. This is a very litigious age and people and businesses are being sued for ridiculous amounts of money over issues which is the past…...
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Works Cited:
Boyer, Dave (2012). "EEOC: High School Diploma Requirement Might Violate Americans with Disabilities Act." Washington Times.
Greenhouse, Steven. (2012). "Equal Opportunity Updates Hiring Policy." The New York Times.
Selna, Robert (2010). "S.F. Bookshop Owner to Close Over ADA Lawsuit." San Francisco
Common sense and compassion in the workplace has been replaced by litigation.
The topic deals with many issues regarding the employee at the workplace. While about two decades ago the employees were at the mercy of the employer and the wage contract, more and more activism and the international requirements on protection of labor has created the needs of government interference which resulted in many laws and requirements beginning with social security and now encompasses a plethora of legislation.
However the argument that common sense and compassion in the workplace has been replaced by litigation is not entirely correct, though the topic has to be seen from the view that litigation has created the laws, and forced the adoption of laws and welfare measures. In the same context it is also argued that greed, corporate or individual can offset compassion and commonsense. Therefore enforcement of laws and the need to comply with…...
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References
Borzi, Phyllis C. (2008) "There's "Private" and Then There's "Private": ERISA, Its Impact,
and Options for Reform" The Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, vol. 36, no. 4, pp: 660 -- 669.
Common ense -- Thomas Paine
Thomas Paine, one of the most influential writers of the American Revolution, wrote a pamphlet called Common ense. In this short work, he incited and inspired American Patriots to declare independence from Great Britain. One author semi-jokingly called him a "corset maker by trade, a journalist by profession, and a propagandist by inclination" (PoemHunter.com, 2009). The work was one of the top best sellers of the time, (1776), causing Paine to be known in many ways as the Father of the American Revolution.
Putting oneself as a colonist living during the Revolutionary Period and reading and hearing about Paine's Common ense is interesting. I believe that the key would be the place one was in society, how literate one was, and what one's job would be. For instance, someone from the privileged class may not agree with or even have any sympathy for any writings about breaking…...
Paine writes, "Government, like dress, is the badge of lost innocence, the palaces of kings are build on the ruins of the bowers of paradise" (Paine pp).
For all his utopian depictions of colonial life, John de Crevecouer does write realistically of slavery, and like Paine's government comparison, Crevecouer also describes a loss of societal morals to commerce, concerning the issue of slavery. Of Carolina, he writes,
Carolina produces commodities, more valuable perhaps than gold, because they are gained by greater industry; it exhibits also on our northern stage, a display of riches and luxury, inferior indeed to the former, but far superior to what are to be seen in our northern towns" (Crevecouer 166).
He then goes into great length regarding the lifestyle of the citizens, describing their homes, how they feast and dine, enjoy luxuries and galas, and how this entire culture and commerce is built on the backs of slaves.…...
Common Sense by Thomas Paine, and the Declaration of Independence as to which had a greater or stronger effect on the colonists. This essay will ultimately suggest that the Declaration of Independence was a more effective document due to its ability to reform the colonies into a republic. This essay will first describe Common Sense and its impact before doing the same with the Decleartaion of Independence.
Common Sense
Common Sense was a pamphlet written by an outspoken colonist rebel named Thomas Paine. Paine's intent of this writing was to summon emotional and political support for those wishing to revolt against the British Monarchy. Common Sense was written in 1776, the same year as the Declaration of Independence, and they both had a complimentary impact on their historic value due to this timing.
Common Sense is a rallying cry for those wishing a better life, and more freedom to stand up against…...
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References
Jefferson, T. (1952). Declaration of independence. Encyclopedia Britannica.
Thomas Paine was born on January 29, 1737 at Thetford, Norfolk, England. He was known as the Anglo-American political philosopher. He lived in a poor family where his father, a Quaker, was only a corsetiere and his mother, an Anglican, was an ordinary housewife with abnormal behavior and very moody. It is said that Thomas was close to his father more than his mother because you can notice in his writings some of the quotations were based on his father conviction. According to the Oldys, Thomas was never baptized because of the belief of his parents.
Thomas went to school in "Grammar School," where the son of the rector sold his talent, Williamson, to a politician. Thomas was aware that he lived in a world of brutality and violence. He was a member of the Quaker club but he was not welcome because of discrimination in the club, even in churches…...
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Bibliography:
American-Buddha, "The Life of Thomas Paine,"
BrainyMedia.com (2005), "Brainy Quotes: Thomas Paine,"
Common Sense, by Thomas Paine. Specifically it will answer the following question: ere British Imperial policies responsible for the coming of the American Revolution?
COMMON SENSE
Economic forces were probably one of the most important factors in pushing the Americans toward revolution and independence. However, they were certainly not the only factors that led Americans to revolt. There were a variety of factors, as Paine's writing clearly shows. e were on the path to revolution from the moment our ancestors left England to avoid religious persecution, as Paine remembers.
This new world hath been the asylum for the persecuted lovers of civil and religious liberty from every part of Europe. Hither have they fled, not from the tender embraces of the mother, but from the cruelty of the monster; and it is so far true of England, that the same tyranny which drove the first emigrants from home, pursues their descendants still…...
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Works Cited
Paine, Thomas. Rights of Man; Common Sense; and Other Political Writings. Ed. Philp, Mark. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998.
People often confuse the American evolution for the War for Independence. Although they share similar motives and similar actions, they are not one in the same. As John Adams made note of in a letter to Thomas Jefferson in 1815, "What do we mean by the evolution? The war? That was no part of the evolution" (Bailyn, 1967, p. 1).
He goes on to explain the war was more of a consequence and effect than a part of it as it developed. The evolution existed in the minds of people long before the one heard the first gun shot. "The records of thirteen legislatures, the pamphlets, newspapers in all the colonies, ought to be consulted during that period to ascertain the steps by which the public opinion was enlightened and informed concerning the authority of Parliament over the colonies." This lesson examines the "evolution in the minds of the people" (Bailyn,…...
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References
Bailyn, B. (1967). The ideological origins of the American Revolution. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
Academic Thinking Merits and Beliefs
The relationships between and among common sense, science, personal beliefs and critical thinking is somewhat complicated because there are so many different variables to consider. Science is a branch of thought that is based on empirical evidence and that which can be proven. Personal beliefs are essentially opinions, which need not be based upon empirical evidence. Common sense are those things that are readily apparent to most people with most perceptions -- there is a degree of basic science or empirical evidence in common sense. Additionally, common sense can be a part of one's personal beliefs. Lastly, critical thinking is the ability to analyze distinct factors or facets of something and to draw conclusions, or inferences, from them in a manner in which one is able to synthesize these different elements. Critical thinking can involve aspects of science, personal beliefs, and common sense, although it is…...
Common Sense as a Formal Rejection of Monarchy
America's fight for independence would emerge quite naturally out of the needs of its people to establish a form of governance, of economy and of society reflective of the demands created by the path of development of the colonies. Its people would be assisted in their ascent to this revolt by no small degree of propaganda, which would help to represent the trespasses of kingship as a form of governance for the masses. Thomas Paine's 1776 pamphlet Common Sense, remains the most famous and representative of such literature, making as its subject the moral argument that men are inherently entitled to individual rights, proper representation and free from tyranny.
In a text designed to produce a sense of revolutionary outrage, Paine crafts a philosophical treatise on appropriate governance designed to counter that which had very organically emerged in the colonies with the increasingly archaic…...
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Bibliography:
Paine, Thomas. (1776). Common Sense. Penguin Classics.
Paine's decision to write of high philosophical and political issues in common speech, and of used "graphic metaphors and his simple sentence structure [to] reflect a language understood at the time by common Americans," (Moss & Wilson, ed) has much the same purpose as a translation of the ible from Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic into Latin, which is to say the need to initiate common people into profound truths.
Paine may not have been the greatest philosopher of his day, but he was certainly the greatest rhetorician. (it is a distinction which has been open to debate since the time of Socrates and the Sophists) the needs of rhetoric, as Aristotle himself has said, demand using emotion, sentiment, self-interest, and logic together with fine and comprehensible speech to persuade an audience. oth his synthesis of modern ideals and his simple straight forward manner aided him in fulfilling these demands:
Disavowing the…...
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Bibliography
Boulton, James. "Literature and Politics I: Tom Paine and the Vulgar Style." Essays in Criticism, Vol. XII, No. 1, January, 1962, pp. 18-33. Reprinted in Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism, Vol. 62 [Galenet Group Database]
Essay on the way in which Thomas Paine's "vulgar style" enabled him to reach his contemporary audience in a uniquely powerful fashion, though it has exposed him to neglect from literary elitists and academics.
Levernier, James. "Thomas Paine: Overview," in Reference Guide to American Literature, 3rd ed., edited by Jim Kamp, St. James Press, 1994.
1.From the moment I embarked on the literary journey crafted by Rick Riordan, I was captivated by the enchanting world he conjured, where mythology intertwined with contemporary life, igniting a passion for reading that has never waned.
2.In the tapestry of American literature, Rick Riordan stands as a master storyteller, weaving a vibrant and intricate web of tales that has ensnared my imagination, leaving me yearning for more.
3.Like a siren's song, the words of Rick Riordan beckoned me into a realm of adventure, where I found solace and inspiration amidst the trials and tribulations of his....
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