...the age of chivalry is gone. That of sophisters,
economists, and calculators has succeeded; and
the glory of Europe is extinguished forever.
-Edmund Burke
American colonies, Ireland, France and India Harried,
and Burke's great melody against it.
-W.B. Yeats (The Seven Sages)
What a heady time were the late 1700's. For hundreds, even thousands,
of years, Western man had been saddled with monarchy; kings who were said
to rule by divine right. But by the end of the 18th century, Martin
Luther, John Locke and Adam Smith had propounded the essential framework
for modern liberal capitalist democracy and the Revolution in America had
launched a grand experiment based on those ideas. Then came the French
Revolution and it was blithely assumed that here again Liberty was on the
march. When suddenly, rising to meet the tide of history, came Edmund
Burke to excoriate the Jacobins and denounce the Revolution.
In so doing, he not only did mankind a great service, by sounding the alarms
against unchecked liberty, he also basically gave birth to modern Conservatism.
Today, after a long period in the wilderness, particularly during the Cold
War, Edmund Burke has come roaring back into fashion. In a sense,
he has finally won his argument with the defenders of the French Revolution,
two hundred years after the fact, and is reaping the spoils.
For two centuries a controversy has raged over Burke's political philosophy,
in particular whether the great defender of American, Irish and Indian
rights was inconsistent in opposing the French Revolution. The very
existence and the stubborn persistence of this controversy seem to demonstrate
either a complete misunderstanding or a willful misrepresentation of Burke's
basic arguments. One suspects it's a bit of both. The greatness
of Burke lies in the fact that he was among the first, and certainly the
most eloquent, defenders of democracy to recognize the dangers it entails;
that power in the hands of the masses is just as great a threat to liberty
as when it lies in the hand of a dictator or king. This point had
been amply demonstrated in France, where the revolutionists had quickly
abandoned any concern for personal freedom and had moved on to a bloody
demand for equality--freedom's enemy.
It is here that we arrive at the key point that divides the modern Left
and Right. The Left believes (a la Rousseau) that man is by nature
"good" and all men are born with equal abilities, but that environmental
factors and corrupt institutions warp individuals, making some evil and
keeping others from realizing their full potentials; which if realized
would make them equal to other men. The goal of the Left is therefore
to remove, by any means necessary, these environmental and institutional
impediments and return to an imagined state of nature where all men are
good and are equally able; where Man will be governed by pure reason.
The Right, on the other hand, recognizes that man is inately "evil";
that is, evil in the sense that he is self centered and will generally
act in his own interest not the interest of others. Moreover, men
are inherently unequal; in the state of nature, the able will tyrannize
the less able. It is for these reasons that men form governments
in the first place; to protect themselves from one another. The goal
of the Right is to provide each individual with the greatest personal freedom
and utmost opportunity to realize his potential, consistent with the basic
safety concerns that gave birth to the state in the first instance.
Conservatives realize that pure reason will not lead men to treat each
other with justice, by nature, men will always seek advantage over one
another. The State and other institutions safeguard us against this
eventuality.
This fundamental difference can not be overstated. Prior to the
18th century, the Left would have included all democrats, while the Right
would have been made up of monarchists and supporters of aristocracy.
But beginning with the French Revolution, this fissure separated the regnant
liberal forces into two competing camps, setting the stage for the two
century long contest that ended in the early 1990's with the fall of the
Soviet Union. Both sides would produce great men, original theorists,
brilliant writers and magnificent orators, but none of them would ever
surpass Burke and his mastery of all these fields. Rare are the men
who so clearly perceive the fundamental issues that confront mankind.
They seem at times to be travelers from the future, come to warn us about
what horrors the years to come will hold unless we obey their counsel.
Rarer still are the occasions when we heed them. We can only imagine
the millions of lives that would have been saved had people followed Burke's
vision rather that that of Rousseau and Jefferson and Marx.
Happily, here in America, James Madison's Constitution embodies many
of the same ideas and protects against many of the concerns which Burke
expressed. The adoption of representative, rather than direct, democracy;
the bicameral legislature and tripartite government; the careful system
of checks and balances; the protection of basic rights from government
interference: these are all, though we seldom discuss them in these terms,
intended to protect the individual from the potentially tyrannical effects
of democracy. When commentators speak of the genius of the American
system, whether they realize it or not, it is to this central fact that
they refer. So while critics have struggled to understand a false
dichotomy in Burke's thought, we (and to a lesser extent the Brits) have
enjoyed the fruits of a political system which assumes that his critique
of democracy is less theory than received wisdom. For whatever reason,
it took two hundred years and countless millions of lives before the rest
of the world recognized what Burke (the bard) and Madison (the draftsman)
had known all along; two centuries that proved them indisputably correct.
(Reviewed:16-Jan-00)
Grade: (A+)
Websites:
Edmund Burke Links:
-REVIEW ESSAY: Reactionary Prophet: Edmund Burke understood before anyone else that revolutions devour their youngÑand turn into their opposites: a review of Reflections On The Revolution In France: Edmund Burke, edited by Frank M. Turner (Christopher Hitchens, April 2004, The Atlantic Monthly)
-ESSAY: Strauss's Three Burkes: The Problem of Edmund Burke in Natural Right and History (Steven J. Lenzner, August 1991, Political Theory)
-ESSAY: The Liberalism/Conservatism Of Edmund Burke and F. A. Hayek: A Critical Comparison (Linda C. Raeder, Humanitas)
Book-related and General Links:
-SPEECH:
Edmund
Burke - On the Death of Marie Antoinette
-BIO:
Burke, Edmund ( ENCYCLOPÆDIA BRITANNICA)
-BIO:
Biographies: The Political Philosopher, Edmund Burke (1729-97).
-BIO:
A biography of Edmund Burke (1729-1797)
-CHAT:
Edmund Burke Lecture Hall: Edmund Burke
-QUOTES:
Edmund Burke. 1729-1797. Bartlett, John. 1901. Familiar Quotations
-ETEXT:
Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790)
-ETEXT:
Speech on conciliation with America (1775)
-Modern
History Sourcebook: Edmund Burke: Speech in Commons on India, 1783
-Björn's
Guide To Philosophy - Burke
-ESSAY:
Edmund Burke's Legacy By Andrew Webster A Tribute on the 200th Anniversary
of his Death
-ESSAY:
Irish Historical Mysteries: Edmund Burke and Charles Lucas
-ESSAY:
Edmund Burke's Conservatism (Memo To: SSU students on summer break
From: Jude Wanniski Re: An introduction to Burke --Polyconomics)
-Brief
notes on Edmund Burke's philosophy
-ESSAY:
The Value-Centered Historicism of Edmund Burke (Joseph Baldacchino)*****
-
ESSAY:
The Liberalism/Conservatism Of Edmund Burke and F. A. Hayek: A Critical
Comparison (Linda C. Raeder, HUMANITAS, Volume X, No. 1, 1997. ©
National Humanities Institute)
-ESSAY:
Prejudice and Abstract Political Theory in Edmund Burke's Reflections on
the French Revolution (Nick Russo)
-ESSAY:
On the Political Stupidity of the Jews (Irving Kristol)
-ESSAY:
Literature and the Power of the Imagination (Walter Poznar, World &
I)
-REVIEW:
of Edmund Burke: A Life in Caricature, Edmund Burke and India, The Literary
Genres of Edmund Burke & Intertextual War (Daniel Ritchie,
First Things)
-REVIEW:
of Frans De Bruyn, The Literary Genres of Edmund Burke: The Political Uses
of Literary Form (Tim Fulford, Romantic Circle Reviews)
-REVIEW:
of The Great Melody: A Thematic Biography and Commented Anthology of
Edmund Burke. By Conor Cruise O'Brien, Was Burke a Conservative? (Mark
C. Henrie, First Things)
-REVIEW:
of THE GREAT MELODY A Thematic Biography and Commented Anthology of
Edmund Burke. By Conor Cruise O'Brien (John Patrick Diggins, NY Times Book
Review)
-REVIEW:
Alan Ryan: Who Was Edmund Burke?, NY Review of Books
The Great Melody: A Thematic
Biography and Commented Anthology of Edmund Burke by Conor Cruise O'Brien
-REVIEW:
Conor Cruise O'Brien: Two Edmund Burkes?, NY Review of Books
The Rage of Edmund Burke:
Portrait of an Ambivalent Conservative by Isaac Kramnick
-REVIEW:
J.H. Plumb: Burke and His Cult, NY Review of Books
Burke and the Nature of
Politics by Carl B. Cone
-REVIEW:
of A CHOICE OF INHERITANCE Self and Community From Edmund Burke to
Robert Frost. By David Bromwich (Harold Beaver, NY Times Book Review)
-REVIEW:
of A CHOICE OF INHERITANCE Self and Community From Edmund Burke to
Robert Frost. By David Bromwich (Harold Beaver, NY Times Book Review)
-REVIEW
ESSAY: Burke's Mansions (Daniel Ritchie, First Things)
Edmund Burke: A Life in
Caricature. By Nicholas K. Robinson
Edmund Burke and India.
By Frederick G. Whelan
The Literary Genres of Edmund
Burke. By Frans de Bruyn
Intertextual War: Edmund
Burke and the French Revolution in the Writings of Mary
Wollstonecraft, Thomas Paine,
and James Mackintosh. By Steven Blakemore.
-REVIEW:
of The Great Melody: A Thematic Biography and Commented Anthology of
Edmund Burke by Conor Cruise O'Brien (Mark C. Henrie, First Things)
-REVIEW:
of The Religious Origins of the French Revolution by Dale K. Van Kley
(Norman Ravitch, First Things)
-ESSAY:
Rousseau and the Revolt Against Reason (Mary Ann Glendon, First Things)
-A
READER'S GUIDE FOR THE INTELLIGENT AMERICAN (National Review)
FRENCH REVOLUTION:
-LINKS:
The French Revolution (Internet Modern History Sourcebook)
-LECTURE:
Lecture 14 The Language of Politics: England and the French Revolution
(The History Guide)
-ESSAY:
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION: RIGHT OR WRONG? (Richard Bernstein, NY Times
Book Review)
-BOOKNOTES:
Author: Conor Cruise O'Brien Title: The Long Affair: Thomas Jefferson
and the French Revolution, 1785-1800
-REVIEW:
Gordon S. Wood: Liberty's Wild Man, NY Review of Books
The Long Affair: Thomas
Jefferson and the French Revolution, 1785-1800 by Conor Cruise O'Brien
-REVIEW: of The Long Affair Thomas Jefferson and the French Revolution,
1785-1800. By Conor Cruise O'Brien (Richard Brookhiser, NY Times
Book Review)
-REVIEW:
Conor Cruise O'Brien: The Decline and Fall of the French Revolution,
(NY Review of Books)
A Critical Dictionary of
the French Revolution edited by Francois Furet, Mona Ozouf, and translated
by Arthur Goldhammer
-REVIEW:
Robert Darnton: Revolution sans Revolutionaries, NY Review of Books
Politics, Culture, and Class
in the French Revolution by Lynn Hunt
-REVIEW:
J.H. Plumb: The Great Revolution, NY Review of Books
The Age of Democratic Revolution
(Volume II) by R.R. Palmer
-REVIEW:
Peter Gay: The Deluge, NY Review of Books
Paris in the Terror by Stanley
Loomis
-REVIEW:
C.B.A. Behrens: Counter Revolutionaries, NY Review of Books
The Counter-Revolution,
Doctrine and Action, 1789-1804 by Jacques Godechot
Power, Property and History
by Joseph Barnave and translated and edited by Emanuel Chill
History in Geographic Perspective:
The Other France by E.W. Fox
-REVIEW:
of A CULTURAL HISTORY OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION By Emmet Kennedy (Sarah
Maza, NY Times Book Review)
AMERICAN REVOLUTION:
-REVIEW:
of A STRUGGLE FOR POWER The American Revolution. By Theodore Draper
(John Patrick Diggins, NY Times Book Review)
-INSTITUTE FOR
AMERICAN LIBERTY
-Religion
and the Founding of the American Republic (Library of Congress)
-RevWar:
Revolutionary War links
-REVIEW:
of A STRUGGLE FOR POWER The American Revolution. By Theodore Draper
(John Patrick Diggins, NY Times Book Review)
-REVIEW:
The Myth of American Individualism: The Protestant Origins of American
Political Thought by Barry Alan Shain (Eugene D. Genovese, First Things)
GENERAL:
-REVIEW:
of HOLY MADNESS: Romantics, Patriots and Revolutionaries, 1776-1871
By Adam Zamoyski The bloody gods of revolution: With Christ safely
out of the way, revolutionaries from Lafayette to Bakunin waged their own
holy wars in the name of liberty and democracy, says John Lukacs ( John
Lukacs, London Times)
-REVIEW:
of THE CROOKED TIMBER OF HUMANITY Chapters in the History of Ideas.
By Isaiah Berlin. Edited by Henry Hardy (Gertrude Himmelfarb, NY Times
Book Review)
-REVIEW:
of A CONFLICT OF VISIONS By Thomas Sowell (Fred Barnes, NY Times Book
Review)
-REVIEW:
Gordon S. Wood: Americans and Revolutionaries, NY Review of Books
Revolutions: Reflections
on American Equality and Foreign Liberations by David Brion Davis
-REVIEW:
Keith Thomas: Just Say Yes, NY Review of Books
Inventing the People: The
Rise of Popular Sovereignty in England and America by Edmund S. Morgan
-REVIEW:
Keith Thomas: Politics Recaptured, NY Review of Books
The Foundations of Modern
Political Thought Volume One: The Renaissance Volume Two: The Age of Reformation
by Quentin Skinner
-ETEXT:
The Rights of Man (Thomas Paine)
-REVIEW:
Gordon S. Wood: Disturbing the Peace, NY Review of Books
Tom Paine: A Political Life
by John Keane
Thomas Paine: Apostle of
Freedom by Jack Fruchtman, Jr.
Thomas Paine: Collected
Writings edited by Eric Foner
-REVIEW:
Eric Foner: Founding Father Tom, NY Review of Books
Paine by David Hawke
Thomas Paine: His Life,
Work, and Times by Audrey Williamson
-ESSAY:
Introduction to The Rights of Man (Howard Fast)
-REVIEW:
Alan Ryan: The "New" Locke, NY Review of Books
Locke and Berkeley edited
by David M. Armstrong and C.B. Martin
The Political Thought of
John Locke by John Dunn
John Locke: Problems and
Perspectives edited by John Yolton
The Educational Writings
of John Locke edited by James Axtell
John Locke: Two Tracts on
Government edited by Philip Abrams
Locke's "Two Treatises of
Government" edited by Peter Laslett
-REVIEW:
of Conservatism: An Anthology of Social and Political Thought from
Davide Hume to the Present edited by Jerry Z. Muller (Daniel J. Mahoney,
First Things)
Comments:
Orrin welcomes reader comments on his reviews.
Add yours here.
Your essay is interesting and well written, but it does not 'reflect' on Burke's 'Reflections on the Revolution in France.' Would it be possible to add on or write a subsequent essay explaining what exactally Burke was proposing with his reflection?
- Mary
- Apr-26-2006, 00:41
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