he and some of his friends visited burke several years before french rev. separately i think.
when the revolution started, he and a few others wrote to burke.
they thought burke would be on their side!
that's how little they understood any philosophy. they didn't even know he wouldn't agree with them.
the french revolution is reputed to have been all about philosophy and abstract ideas.
but how can that be? those men didn't know anything about ideas. they were incapable of understanding burke's philosophy even enough to see which side he'd be on.
paine's book replying to burke on the french revolution confirms my point. it showed that even after burke explained his position in detail that paine *still* couldn't understand even the main points of it. paine was no thinker.
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