When1: 1775
When2: 1796
Who: Edmund Burke [Burke, Edmund]
What: lawyer/politician
Where: Ireland/London, England
works\ Conciliation with America [1775]; Nabob of Arcot's Debts [1785]; Reflections on the French Revolution [1790]; Appeal from the Old to the New Whigs [1791]; Letters on a Regicide Peace [1795]; Letter to a Noble Lord [1796]
Detail: He lived 1729 to 1797 and was conservative Whig. He believed in maintaining current institutions and social customs, deciding on evidence not theory, and being skeptical. He exposed East India Company injustices in India, during Hastings trial. He opposed French-Revolution Jacobites. He tried to improve policies about America and wanted to free Ireland. He wanted to free House of Commons from King George III.
Politics
Political power is to preserve order. Society coheres through habit, emotional bonds, conventions, loyalty, communal feeling, and tradition {conservatism, Burke}, not by reason, rights, or law. Institutions can reform by small steps, keeping essence, rather than change too much or quickly.
People should be dutiful, loyal to traditions, bound by social relations, and fitted into roles. Moral tradition is more important than rational morality. Individuals should be free and independent, to judge and choose for best advantage and to be responsible for their families. Human nature causes inequalities in society, but justice must prevail.
Government should use power legally. Government should only maintain security and order, because it often abuses power. Bureaucracy and interference reduce human energies. Institutions should fit culture. Institutions should be free and independent. Changes should be slow and subject to change, because human frailty can make everything worse.
Social Sciences>Law>History>English Law
Outline of Knowledge Database Home Page
Description of Outline of Knowledge Database
Date Modified: 2022.0224