Conservative Thinkers - Edmund Burke

Question 1

Who was Edmund Burke?

Answer 1

Edmund Burke (1729-1797) is a founder of modern conservatism. Burke wrote ‘Reflections on the revolutions in France’ (1790) in which he developed conservative arguments of gradual change, tradition and empiricism

Question 2

Why was Burke so counter-enlightenment?

Answer 2

• burger rejected enlightenment liberalism and disagreed with the view that humans are rational creatures. He believed in human imperfection
• as result, he disagreed with building society around human rationality, as enlightenment liberalism believed.
• his rejection of liberal rationality was influenced by witnessing the French Revolution
• he disagreed with the idea that people could destroy society and create a brand new, fairer system
• systems in society should be preserved instead

Question 3

What is Burke’s view on change (“conserve to change”)?

Answer 3

• Edmund burke is associated with the traditional conservative view of ‘change to conserve’
• Burke urged British tories to accept change in order to conserve society after seeing the French Revolution
• he saw threats to conservatism from enlightenment liberalism (despite being a liberal himself originally) and socialism
• Burke also believed in gradual change, rather than revolutionary change
• changes should consider the impact on the present and the future, but also listen to the mistakes and lessons of the past

Question 4

What is burke’s view on tradition and empiricism?

Answer 4

• burke believed that we should follow traditions and practices that have been passed down for generations
• his idea of a social contract from history rather than choosing radical untested ideas
• he believed that people in the present shouldn’t just trust themselves to know what’s best - to do so would be arrogant
• instead, we should listen to tradition and history
• he believed that we should have a social contract between “those who are living, those who are dead, and those who are to be born”