Visionaries and Sceptics: Tom Paine and some contemporaries

Abstract

Visionary statements can derive from various forms of inspiration, but they can also be founded in large measure on a profound scepticism about existing principles or structures. The main focus in this article is on writings by Thomas Paine, but, by way of introduction, the works of two other writers, also from the late eighteenth century and early nineteenth century, are briefly examined. They are Jane Austen and Mary Wollstonecraft, both of whom share a deep concern for the plight of contemporary women, and a conception of how this can be changed, fundamentally. While Paine shares their concerns with the rights of women, his principal focus is on the revolutions he witnessed in America, and later in France, on the deleterious effects of tyrannical government, and on an idealistic vision of the future, once these effects are eliminated. Towards the end of his life he published a statement of his thorough-going doubts about many of the beliefs and the histories contained in the Bible, and a counter-statement of his own Deist beliefs.

Keywords:

• American Revolution
• Jane Austen
• Bible
• Deism
• French Revolution
• monarchy
• Thomas Paine
• Mary Wollstonecraft
• women's rights