Edmund Burke and the Origins of Modern Conservatism Kishore Jayabalan Istituto Acton, Rome I love a manly, moral, regulated liberty
Born 1729 in Dublin to an Irish Catholic mother and Irish Anglican father Initially studied law but chose writing and then politics as his profession, serving as Rockingham s secretary Whig Member of Parliament 1765-1794 Died 1797 in Beaconsfield Biography
Father of Modern Conservativism Defender of the British Constitution Proponent of liberty and authority The opponent of the French Revolution and modern political rationalism Favored Catholic emancipation in Ireland, the American Revolution; critical of the East India Company Defender of economic freedom, earned Adam Smith s praise Spirit of the gentleman and spirit of religion
What s new about Burke s conservatism? Before Burke, there were no conservatives! Not a simple defender of throne and altar; especially willing to criticize the abuse of power Promoted the marginalized and poor Debate over Burke and natural law/rationalism/metaphysics/epistemology Principled, yet anti-ideological politics and defense of party government; philosopher in action
Burke: the first fusionist Economically liberal, socially conservative Neither libertarian nor sectarian Defense of markets, against technocratic rule of experts and corruption The good of the nation takes precedence over that of the individual or particular groups Appreciated pluralism, concerned about individualism Respect for foreign cultures, history and tradition
Indeterminate nature of liberty Of all the loose terms in the world, liberty is the most indefinite. It is not solitary, unconnected, individual, selfish liberty, as if every man was to regulate the whole of his conduct by his own will. The liberty I mean is social freedom. It is that state of things in which liberty is secured by the equality of restraint. - Letter to François Depont (1789)
Qualified good of liberty The effect of liberty to individuals is that they may do what they please; we ought to see what it will please them to do, before we risk congratulations which may be soon turned into complaints. Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790)
Abhorrence and Action If the prudence of reserve and decorum dictates silence in some circumstances, in others prudence of a higher order may justify us in speaking our thoughts. [ ] Whenever our neighbor's house is on fire, it cannot be amiss for the engines to play a little on our own. Better to be despised for too anxious apprehensions than ruined by too confident a security. - Reflections
Reflections on the Revolution in France Indulging myself in the freedom of epistolary intercourse, I beg leave to throw out my thoughts and express my feelings just as they arise in my mind, with very little attention to formal method.
Reflections It appears to me as if I were in a great crisis, not of the affairs of France alone, but of all Europe, perhaps of more than Europe. All circumstances taken together, the French revolution is the most astonishing that has hitherto happened in the world.
The age of chivalry is gone That of sophisters, economists; and calculators has succeeded; and the glory of Europe is extinguished forever. Never, never more shall we behold that generous loyalty to rank and sex, that proud submission, that dignified obedience, that subordination of the heart which kept alive, even in servitude itself, the spirit of an exalted freedom.
The age of chivalry is gone The unbought grace of life, the cheap defense of nations, the nurse of manly sentiment and heroic enterprise, is gone! It is gone, that sensibility of principle, that chastity of honor which felt a stain like a wound, which inspired courage whilst it mitigated ferocity, which ennobled whatever it touched, and under which vice itself lost half its evil by losing all its grossness. - Reflections
Beware (British!) Enlightenment Ideas We ought not, on either side of the water, to suffer ourselves to be imposed upon by the counterfeit wares which some persons, by a double fraud, export to you in illicit bottoms as raw commodities of British growth, though wholly alien to our soil, in order afterwards to smuggle them back again into this country, manufactured after the newest Paris fashion of an improved liberty. - Reflections
Why political parties? Party is a body of men united, for promoting by their joint endeavors the national interest, upon some particular principle in which they are all agreed. When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle. - Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents (1770)
Which principle? Nothing universal can be rationally affirmed on any moral, or any political subject. Pure metaphysical abstraction does not belong to these matters. The lines of morality are not like the ideal lines of mathematics. They are broad and deep as well as long. They admit of exceptions; they demand modifications. These exceptions and modifications are not made by the process of logic, but by the rules of prudence.
Which principle? Prudence is not only the first in rank of the virtues political and moral, but she is the director, the regulator, the standard of them all. Metaphysics cannot live without definition; but prudence is cautious how she defines. - An Appeal from the New to the Old Whigs (1790)
Faction vs. Party Faction (or cabal, i.e. the Court party) is inevitable, especially among the ambitious. The ambitious are unprincipled. Morally serious are likely to avoid politics unless they can associate with other morally serious men around some principle. Principledness opposed to first principles
Burke s theory of prescription Prudence is the political virtue; no reference to first principles but to history, the constitution, and circumstances. Parties organized around prescription may change their positions over time. Is prescription coherent without reference to first principles?
Party as Popular Government The individual is foolish; the species wise Tradition and history are surer guides than the rule of the ambitious or philosophy. Parties reflect honest differences of opinion that must be respected; the people rule. Popular opinion is not reliable, however; it needs to be guided and directed by principled gentlemen.
Party as the Rule of Gentlemen These wise men, for such I must call Lord Sunderland, Lord Godolphin, Lord Somers, and Lord Marlborough, were too well principled in these maxims upon which the whole fabrick of public strength is built, to be blown off their ground by the breath of every childish talker. They were not afraid that they should be called an ambitious Junto; or that their resolution to stand or fall together should, by placemen, be interpreted into a scuffle for places. - Thoughts
Party as the Rule of Gentlemen Made up of men of ability and virtue (actual or presumptive) Burke s appeal to the New Whigs who supported the French Revolution, i.e. not men but measures. Acting out of necessity rather than speaking in public, which only encourages revolutionary ideas. There is a time for all things when honest men must conspire rather than consult. Early activity may prevent late and fruitless violence. As yet we work in the light. - Thoughts
Party as the Rule of Gentlemen Party rule and prescription by gentlemen in the name of unspecified principledness Combination of honesty and cleverness Encourages honest men to take part in politics, which they are not normally willing to do, out of friendship and principle. Variety of parties fighting it out rather than the simple application of first principles to politics is more conducive to liberty
Partisanship and the Common Good Burke defends parties or the party system against a critique of interests made in the name of the common good. Common-good rhetoric masks disagreements and encourages factions rather than parties. Partisanship is more likely to produce a common good than insistence on the common good. To make us love our country, our country ought to be lovely. - Reflections
Further questions Is Burke s theory of prescription a reliable guide for a political party? Can a political party successfully refine popular opinion with the rule of gentlemen? (Burke s many failures; state of parties today) Social disruption cause by market economy? Go back or go slow? Founding? Best regime?
Recommended Readings Edmund Burke, A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful (1757); Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents (1770);Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790) Jesse Norman, Edmund Burke: The First Conservative (2013) Ian Crowe, ed. An Imaginative Whig: Reassessing the Life of Edmund Burke (2005) Harvey Mansfield, Statesmanship and Party Government (1965)