十八世紀末葉發生於大西洋兩岸的兩場革命，即美國獨立革命和法國大革命，乃是影響近代政治進程的重大事件，亦是新舊政治秩序更迭的關鍵轉折點。而潘恩和邁斯特可謂是曾親身經歷此一革命年代，並對其發表相互對立的系統性論述之論者。潘恩和邁斯特的對峙立場，既反映了他們對歷史遞變的不同期望，也凸顯了與之相對應的政治理論的內在歧異。本文先勾勒潘恩和邁斯特政治主張的基本輪廓與根本對立，繼而從其中所呈示的線索，進一步考察理性與政治理論的革新、傳統與變革、宗教及其相關問題等議題。要言之，革命年代裡的特定的政治理論的面貌，往往是在與歷史現實的激昂對話中得到更清晰的展現。而在潘恩式的看向未來的政治論述與邁斯特式的回望過去的政治論述的迅猛踫撞中，一種與歷史現實有著即時關連的、罕見且獨特的政治理論時刻（the moment of political theory），正形塑著當時的人以及後來的人的政治命運。

The American Revolution of 1776 and the French Revolution of 1789 were major events that tremendously affected subsequent shifts of political and social order in modern history. The American Revolution and the constitutional experiments that followed created a new political scene with totally novel contents. The French Revolution that erupted in the core of the old world lamented the death of the old regime and paved the way for the coming of modern political mechanisms. Besides Edmund Burke, the most representative of those who had lived through this revolutionary era and had reacted to it by systematic political discourse were, without doubt, Thomas Paine and Joseph de Maistre. Taking Paine and Maistre as prototypes of radicalism and reactionism respectively, this essay aims to offer a comparative interpretation and analysis of their reactions to those revolutions and attempts to explore the characteristics and theoretical intents of political discourse in the revolutionary era. Finally, through the clues presented by Paine and Maistre, this essay also examines the modern implications of the status of reason in political theory, the interplay of tradition and reform, and the related problems of religion.