"A few fundamental truths meet the first enquiry of reason, and appear as clear to an unwarped mind, as that air and bread are necessary to enable the body to fulfil its vital functions; but the opinions which men discuss with so much heat must be simplified and brought back to first principles; or who can discriminate the vagaries of the imagination, or scrupulosity of weakness, from the verdict of reason?"
A Vindication of the Rights of Men in a Letter to the Right Honourable Edmund Burke
First edition appears in December of 1790. Second edition, with MW's name on the cover, published December 14. 2 entries in ESTC (1790).<br>
<br>
Reading <u>The Vindications</u>. eds. D. L. Macdonald and Kathleen Scherf. (Toronto: Broadview Press, 2001). [Based on the 2nd ed.] See also edition at the Online Library of Liberty &lt;<a href="http://oll.libertyfund.org/title/991 on 2009-12-02">Link to OLL</a>&gt;.