Tag Archives: Declaration of Independence

Rights, “Unalienable” or “Inalienable”?: A Concluding Philological Postscript

Posted on July 7, 2014 by James Schmidt

[This version has been revised since it was initially posted;  see below] Since my posting of Bentham’s critique of the “Declaration of Independence” last Thursday, traffic on this blog has increased dramatically. While I appreciate the attention, I suspect that it will … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Periods and Plots: A Postscript to Bentham’s Critique of the Declaration of Independence

Posted on July 4, 2014 by James Schmidt

Shortly after uploading Jeremy Bentham’s critique of the Declaration of Independence, I got around to reading the discussion in the New York Times of Danielle Allen’s questioning of the period that appears immediately after the words “life, liberty, and the … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

Of Rights and Witches: Bentham’s Critique of the Declaration of Independence

Posted on July 3, 2014 by James Schmidt

It is not surprising that friends of the Enlightenment tend to assume that the Enlightenment was generally friendly towards the American Revolution. Richard Price had, after all, been an energetic supporter of the Colonial cause and, like Joseph Priestley, saw … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 18 Comments