citizen at age 21 (to set them up) and a pension to all
people older than 50. The “social-welfare” programs
were to be financed by the savings from eliminating
the costly monarchy and ARISTOCRACY, along with taxes
on the wealthy. Still, Paine adhered to Adam SMITH’s
free-market economic theories and belief that CAPITAL-
ISTcommerce would reconcile social interests and cre-
ate prosperity.
He extolled the new American republic but found
when he returned to the United States in 1802 that his
radical democratic and deistic ideas made him unpop-
ular. The Conservative FEDERALISTSvilified him as a
dangerous French radical and the growing EVANGELICAL
Christian population resented his attacks on religion.
Paine was granted a farm by the state of New York,
honoring his service in the American Revolution, but
he died poor, lonely, and isolated in 1809.
Further Readings
Foner, E. Tom Paine and Revolutionary America.Oxford, Eng.:
Oxford University Press, 1976.
Williamson, A. Thomas Paine: His Life, Work and Time.New
York: St. Martin’s Press, 1973.
Pangle, Thomas (1944– ) North American poli-
tical philosopher and academic
A prominent political theorist of the Straussian school,
Pangle adopts the Platonic concern for clarifying con-
ventional notions of JUSTICE. His writing has as its uni-
fying aim the clarification and defense of the original
Socratic view of political philosophy: the conversation
refutations that purify commonsense notions of justice
and nobility, of self-knowledge and an inquiry into
HUMAN NATUREas the highest and most fulfilling aspect
of human existence. Pangle’s scholarship on CLASSICAL
political thought show how the Socratic arguments for
the supremacy of intellectual virtues shape and enrich
the CLASSICAL REPUBLICANteachings on civic and moral
virtues and the spiritual goals of true self-governance.
His studies of MEDIEVALand biblical thought revive the
mutually challenging dialogue between the classical
and Western spiritual notions of wisdom, virtue, and
civic justice. Pangle’s interpretations of the philosophi-
cal bases of the American founding, grounded in both
John LOCKEand MONTESQUIEU, along with his analysis
of NIETZSCHE, argue for the significance within moder-
nity of a continued if dramatically eclipsed commit-
ment to the life of understanding for its own sake,
while diagnosing the effects on civic life and intellec-
tual pursuits of the contemporary diminution of moral
and intellectual virtues in Modern republicanism. Pan-
gle, thus, is a contemporary political philosopher of
unusual depth and breadth, who has greatly influ-
enced 20th-century academic political theory and
social criticism.
Educated at Cornell University and the University
of Chicago, Professor Pangle has taught at Yale, Dart-
mouth, Chicago, the University of Toronto, Canada,
and the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales,
Paris. Winner of numerous academic awards (includ-
ing a Guggenheim Fellowship), Pangle has lectured
worldwide and is a fellow of the Royal Society of
Canada. His books include Montesquieu’s Philosophy of
Liberalism; The Laws of Plato; The Spirit of Modern
Republicanism; The Ennobling of Democracy; The Learn-
ing of Liberty;and Justice Among Nations.He has edited
The Roots of Political Philosophy; The Rebirth of Classi-
cal Political Rationalism; Political Philosophy and the
Human Soul, and the political theory section of the
Encyclopedia of Democracy.Pascal, Blaise (1623–1662) French mathemati-
cian, social and religious philosopher
Most famous for his (uncompleted) book Pensées
(“Reflections”)—a reasoned defense of the CHRISTIAN
faith—Pascal combined an advanced scientific mind
with a profound mysticism. Seen as a traditional reli-
gious response to the rise of MODERN HUMANISTthought
(as in Francis BACON), Pascal’s philosophy warns
against the consequences of human life and society
without a consciousness of the divine.
Politically, Pascal adopts the view of St. AUGUSTINE
that governmental JUSTICEis always imperfect and that
pursuit of worldly honor, prestige, and fame is vain
and foolish. Still, people should obey the STATEas a
necessary force to prevent ANARCHYand civil war. Any
government that maintains order and a semblance of
JUSTICE should be supported. Given human evil, no
state can engender VIRTUEor goodness, and no secular
community can produce real fellowship. Human envy
and hatred of others prevents genuine society; only a
spiritual fellowship has a chance of harmony. Pascal
followed this philosophy by entering a Jansenist
monastery at age 31, renouncing his social eminence
as a scholar and international celebrity. Afterwards he
defined all such efforts at worldly distinction (fame,
money, notoriety) as vain attempts of individuals toPascal, Blaise 227