The Cambridge Companion to Edmund BurkeDavid Dwan, Christopher Insole Edmund Burke prided himself on being a practical statesman, not an armchair philosopher. Yet his responses to specific problems - rebellion in America, the abuse of power in India and Ireland, or revolution in France - incorporated theoretical debates within jurisprudence, economics, religion, moral philosophy, and political science. Moreover, the extraordinary rhetorical force of Burke's speeches and writings quickly secured his reputation as a gifted orator and literary stylist. This Companion provides a comprehensive assessment of Burke's thought, examining the intellectual traditions that shaped it and the concrete issues to which it was addressed. The volume explores all his major writings from his early treatise on aesthetics to his famous polemic, Reflections on the Revolution in France. It also examines the vexed question of Burke's Irishness and seeks to determine how his cultural origins may have influenced his political views - from his attitudes on religious toleration to his complicated response to Empire. Finally, it aims both to explain and to challenge interpretations of Burke as a romantic, a utilitarian, a natural law thinker, and founding father of modern conservatism. |
Contents
Burkes Life | 15 |
Burke as Rhetorician and Orator | 41 |
Burke on Law and Legal Theory | 67 |
Burke on Political Economy | 80 |
Burke and the Natural Law | 117 |
Burke and Utility | 131 |
Burke and the Ends of Empire | 145 |
Burke on India | 168 |
Burke and Ireland | 181 |
Reflections on the Revolution in France | 195 |
Burkes CounterRevolutionary Writings | 209 |
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aesthetic American colonies ancient constitution argued argument authority Bentham Britain British Burke’s Cambridge University Press Catholic century Christian Cicero civilisation claim commercial conception context critical culture David debate defence deism Dublin economic edited Edmund Burke eighteenth-century election empire England English Enlightenment Essays Europe European France French Revolution Glorious Revolution Hastings History House of Commons human idea impeachment imperial independence India insisted intellectual interest Ireland Irish J. G. A. Pocock John justice Letter liberty London Lord manners modern monarchy moral natural law natural right orator Oxford parliament parliamentary party Philosophical Enquiry Pitt Pocock Political Economy political thought practice principles Protestant Protestant Ascendancy published Pufendorf reason Reflections reform religion religious revealed Revolution in France revolutionary rhetorical Richard Bourke Rockingham sense Shaftesbury social Speech Suarez sublime theory thinkers tion tradition utilitarian utility VIII virtue Warren Hastings Whiggism Whigs William William Burke writings