Talk:Robert Owen
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For your section on the Owen experiment at New Harmony, Indiana, you might want to consult wikipedia's article on New Harmony. You are accurate in stating that the utopian experiment failed; however, New Harmony was a significant center of scientific research due to the presence of Owen's sons and the scientists that Robert Owen brought to the community on the famous "Boatload of Knowledge." Additional information about the history of New Harmony can be found on a site maintained by the University of Southern Indiana: http://faculty.evansville.edu/ck6/bstud/nh.html --Gr1909 (talk) 22:47, 2 March 2008 (UTC)
More information about Robert Owen's son Richard Dale Owen can be found at the following site:http://faculty.evansville.edu/ck6/bstud/richowen.html --Gr1909 (talk) 22:38, 2 March 2008 (UTC)
Hello. I don't think this photo can be of Robert Owen, who would have been in his seventies when photography proper came in. It looks more like Thomas Carlyle.
Regards,
Ian
- Actually I think it's an engraving. It came from the University of Texas collection; they cite Helmolt, H.F., ed. History of the World. New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1902 as their source. (I tend to trust them being an alum. *grin*) - Hephaestos|§ 14:01, 13 Mar 2004 (UTC)
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[edit] Day of dying
Encyclopædia Britannica in hebrew claims that Owen died in November 7th. SHIMONSHA
- That is probably a typo on their part. I've consulted several authorities and they agree he died on 17 November 1858. Pinkville
[edit] NPOV
I was looking for a factual article about the causes of failure of Owen's experiments at New Harmony. The author of this article (1911 Brittanica or whomever) clearly has a sympathetic view of Owen's beliefs.
The article is HIGHLY apologetic and forgiving about Owen's failures, and far too laudatory and lavish in praise otherwise. I know little more about the man than I learned in high school years ago (which was in itself fairly little) so can someone with more knowledge clean up a mite?
216.46.98.249 21:43, 12 January 2006 (UTC)
NPOV
Robert Owen did have faults the main was that in America his new city was abused and the people that moved to work there where not the industrious people who appreciated his benevolence. Robert Owen failed in the American New Harmony because he did not see the problems a less than motivated workforce would produce. The good of principals were let down by the reality of Humans trying to get something for nothing. The move to succeed in the USA by UK companies still remains difficult and Owen did not expect the inherent differnces and therfore could not plan and foresee the relocation problems as it had not been undertaken before. Owen must have believed as the formulae had been succesful in New Lanark it would have no problems in the USA.
By the time he realised the project was flawed it was too late. But the work he undertook laid the foundations for many good things that had would not have been undertaken so quickly and showed that the inhuman excess the Industrial Revolution produced were not required for business to prosper and that employees should be treated as human beings. A new philosphy that made the world of employment as we know it today and we all must look to as a touchstone for the coming Globalisation producing the world-wide comglomerates who seem set on shaping the world and its workers to fit their strategies.
Though flawed the work done by Robert Owen improved the workers conditions then and now. We perhaps need another Roberty Owen faults and all to stop us falling into the Globalisation revolution without any alternative.
NPOV! The article reads like a paean to the man. Excerpts:
"In all these plans Owen obtained the most gratifying success." " According to the unanimous testimony of all who visited it, the results achieved by Owen appeared singularly good."
It also is a bit quaint and outmoded; as 216.46.98.249 pointed out, it sounds like it could be from the 1911 Brittanica. I mean, "This population, thus committed to his care, Owen now set himself to elevate and ameliorate." Really? Not to mention there are a few first-person references in the article ("As we have said,...").
In consideration of these things, I'm marking the article POV-Check. Chris 19:34, 6 June 2006 (UTC)
- You could try rewriting the parts you think are slanted. Tom Harrison Talk 19:40, 6 June 2006 (UTC)
- Yes, this article is a bit pious in tone and somewhat antiquated in style, as if it relies heavily on some old-fashioned hagiographical work. But it contains much useful info. I corrected the style a bit, linked "truck system", and added dates for the Truck Acts.pmr 11:05, 8 September 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Nationality
Many European History textbooks call Owens Scottish. Anyone care to comment on the source for his Welsh nationality here? M. Luke Myers 02:22, 26 January 2006 (UTC)
According to Norton's The Revolutionary Era: 1789-1850 Owen's was born in Wales and bought a cotton mill in New Lanark, Scotland.
Indeed, Owen was born in Newtown, Powys and moved at the age of 10. He returned to Newtown at the end of his life and died there. There is a museum and statue to Owen in Newtown
[edit] New Harmony
The section on its formation is questionable given that the New Harmony Historical Society website (http://www.ulib.iupui.edu/KADE/newharmony/home.html) states it was originally a German Lutherian community which failed and was rescued; another useful resource for consideration of the validity of the content is http://www.infed.org/thinkers/et-owen.htm user:ianguy
The Photo which is attached to this section is titled 'New Moral World', However it is the same photo that is used for the page on New Harmony. Which one is correct?
I believe this section needs a bit of a rewrite - the tone lacks neutrality: "Neither of them was a pauper experiment; but it must be said that the members were of the most motley description, many worthy people of the highest aims being mixed with viagrants, adventurers, and crotchety, wrongheaded enthusiasts, or in the words of Owen's son 'a heterogeneous collection of radicals... honest latitudinarians, and lazy theorists, with a sprinkling of unprincipled sharpers thrown in.'" --Vince 16:25, 10 April 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Revisions
11/19/06 The article looked like a starstruck middle school student wrote it. The grammar, syntax, punctuation, etc. was atrocious and very archaic. I fixed most of the problem areas. You'll find that the original meanings are wholly intact; the old wording has simply been improved. --Smilingsuzy 21:19, 19 November 2006 (UTC)
~ Useful work, Smilingsuzy, but you seem to have "corrected" several spellings that are authorised by the Oxford English Dictionary. pmr 15:51, 6 January 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Labour vouchers
I note that this article doesn't mention Owen's invention of labour vouchers. I'm not terribly familiar with Owen's treatment of them myself, so perhaps someone who is can add this information to the article (and also to the labour voucher article, which I have started as a stub). —Psychonaut 14:10, 22 December 2006 (UTC)
The article does mention the Truck Acts. These post-date Owen at New Lanark and the reference should not be in this article. In fact Owen favoured and operated a Truck/voucher system with vouchers redeemable in the Company Shop. So the point is misleading.
The feature of Owen's system was that (unusually for these schemes) his Shop offered good value. This fact was used by David Ricardo (as an MP) to oppose the Truck Acts. --172.201.138.248 17:33, 27 April 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Spiritualism
There is no mention in the article about the alleged authorship of the seven principles of spiritualism. Any reason for this? Is the S.N.U. website http://www.snu.org.uk/seven.htm proof enough for me to alter the article?
