Helen J. Knowles (Whitman College) has posted Introductory Essay for Lysander Spooner, “The Deist’s Immortality” and “An Essay on Man’s Accountability for His Belief” (1834) and “The Deist’s Reply” (1836) (Reprint, Cobden Publishing, Forthcoming 2011) on SSRN. Here is the abstract:
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This essay is the introduction to the works appearing in Cobden Publishing's forthcoming volume reprinting the deism writings of the nineteenth century legal theorist Lysander Spooner (1808-1887). The essay provides historical context for these writings (that were published in 1834 and 1836), and explains what motivated Spooner to write them. It also argues that these, the earliest of Spooner's works, are not written and argued with the care and rigorous logical reasoning that characterized his later pamphlets and legal treatises.
