Reflections On The French Revo Essay Research

Reflections On The French Revo Essay, Research Paper

Edmund Burke s Reflections on the French Revolution

Edmund Burke s renowned book of 1790 is as famous as any text in the history of

politics, and as controversial. Reflections on the French Revolution has been and will

most likely continue to be the subject of many disagreements, however its distinction is

usually admitted even by those whose ideology makes them an opponent of its principles.

Burke claimed that the revolution went wrong because its leaders tried to scrap an entire

political system and replace it overnight rather than change things slowly and within the

current system. He relates this to the outlook of the philosophes, political rationalists

whose methods lacked realism in an era where abstractness can be fatal. These are also

points that few would argue with, and Burke makes strong cases for both of these points.

It is true that the wholesale abolition of an entire order in France in 1789 created immense

confusion during the period of transformation. The old Feudalism system was declared

dead, which meant the dissolution of institutions such as the army, local government, the

judicial system, and the clergy. As this relates to philosophes political ideology, it did

indeed consist of in good part a general adage without much detail creating a revolution

that was good at destruction put not helpful in the rebuilding process.

Whether Burke s analysis of the French Revolution was right or wrong, the events

in France stimulated him to formulate his political philosophy. Burke s sense for the

subtle points in politics makes this an important book. The leading idea emerging from

this piece of literature was that society is a vast and complicated historical product which

may not be tinkered with at will like a machine. It is a repository for collective human

wisdom to be regarded with reverence, and if it is reformed it must be with due respect for

the continuity of its programs and traditions. There were other related ideas: that a

political community is something made by history, an unanalyzed bond between men

which makes free government possible; that the social organism has its natural aristocracy

which common types of men must and do and respect in a healthy society; and that general

rules and abstract principles are no help to politics.

With the disdain for the abstract rights proclaimed by the French Burke tried to

make clear the real rights of man. Burke certainly believed in rights, but he stressed the

degree to which men in entering civil society must give up some of their liberties in order

to gain advantages of government. He distrusted the restless innovator who had no

patience to search out the wisdom of their ancestors but must draw amateur blueprints for

the total reconstruction of society, as if they were the first to ever think about it. The

science of government is not for those, whose visionary schemes are abstractly true but

are morally and politically false. Burke was pious and felt that political society was sound

only on Christian foundations. To Burke two human needs were evident above all others,

history and religion. Man is a religious animal who, if he did not have Christianity would

turn to some other , and probably less satisfactory faith. He is a social animal, who would

be no more than a beast if he were cut off from the fabric of ancient custom and tradition

that sustains him. Reverence toward God and toward the social order are therefore the

two great duties, and they are linked, for history is the revelation of God s purpose.

Perhaps it was not necessarily conservative in the most obvious sense of this

word. In suggesting an empirical approach to the enormous complexity of human affairs,

in place of the vague sloganizing of the philosophes, Burke may well be viewed as the

founder of a real science of social reform, rather than as a hidebound conservative. He

was certainly not opposed to change, if properly carried out, and his own career, that of a

person of humble birth, consisted of one passionate crusade after another. His more

famous crusades were on behalf of American independence, Ireland, India, and against the

French Revolution. He always seemed to need a great cause to serve, some monstrous

injustice to repair.

There was also the very conservative Burke, the Burke traits that came to be

thought of as conservative. The feeling of piety for the social order, the mistrust of

harebrained reformers with a one shot plan, the organic concept of social growth, these

were the foundation of the conservative faith. A great deal of Burke has been accepted as

essential political wisdom for anyone who wants to participate in politics. The features of

Burke that are less appealing to most moderns include his belief in the aristocracy, with

the accompanying rejection of equality.

Burke lacked faith in the capacity of individuals to think

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