Discuss Thomas Paine's THE RIGHTS OF MAN as a product of its time Essay

Discuss Thomas Paine's THE RIGHTS OF MAN as a product of its time - Essay Example But in 1793, he was imprisoned in France for not supporting the execution of the French King, Louis XVI. While being imprisoned, he wrote the Age of Reason, an anti-church work, and very narrowly escaped execution due to efforts of US Minister James Munroe and later went to America on an invitation from Thomas Jefferson where he died a rather disillusioned man in 1809. Thomas Paine was undoubtedly one of the most intellectual products of his time. His time was dominated by the French Revolution, the most important and horrifying event in Europe. While completely supporting the French Revolution, Paine was against the total anarchy, lawlessness and brutality that the revolution unleashed in the name of liberty. He could not bring himself to support the terrible execution of the monarch and was unhappy about the pointless murders and humility of noble families. Even modern thinkers of the time, who had supported the Revolution, could not celebrate the unending rule of terror that eliminated a large number of guiltless and wiped out great scientists like Lavoisier â€Å"Every generation is, and must be, competent to all the purposes which its occasions require. It is the living, and not the dead, that are to be accommodated. When man ceases to be, his power and his wants cease with him; and having no longer any participation in the concerns of this world, he has no longer any authority in directing who shall be its governors, or how its government shall be organized, or how administered1† He was very conscious of the changing needs of people and societies. He always emphasized that the needs have to change according to times, needs could not be stagnant and old principles could not apply to new surroundings. Men can only take the old times as guidance wherever applicable, but they definitely cannot replicate old times to suit the new ones. In that context, again he argues: â€Å"The circumstances of the world are