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Edmund Burke - Coggle Diagram
Edmund Burke
Biography
Born in Dublin in 1729, second city of the British Empire
Ireland riven by sectarian divisions between Catholics and Protestants, run by an anti-Catholic Protestant elite.
Catholics couldn't vote, teach, become judges or lawyers, or stand for public office
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Philosophy of Burke
Reason
Burke thinks laws and institutions should be the result of accumulated historical experience. Unaided rational thought cannot create institutions - rather painstaking trial and error over generations
No individual can fully comprehend government, cannot build one from individual theory and reasoning
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Abstract reasoning can have some role in restraining custom, but it shouldn't be the most important
Tradition
Thought the constitution and rule of law had consistently been based on tradition. English common law based on precedent and common principles accepted since time immemorial
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Abstract reasoning can have a limited role in restraining custom. But there must be an extremely strong rationale
Still committed to fighting abuse of power. Opposed the slave trade, constrained the East India Company, sympathy with American colonists, criticises Protestant Ascendancy
Revolution
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French Revolutionaries did not just replace the king, but tore down the feudal Ancien Regime, the system of privileges for nobles, clergy and monarch
Revolutions had been previously seen but French Revolution occured in the heart of Europe in one of its most powerful states
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Liberty
Liberty is an indefinite concept. Not following selfish desires, but a social freedom where everyone is subject to the same restraints. Everyone is equally protected
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French Revolution will not bring liberty - people and propoerty are deeply under threat. Highlights lack of freedom of speech, arbitrary trials, seizure of property to criticise early revolution
"You may have subverted monarchy, but not recovered freedom"
Liberty requires deep thought and substained effort, cannot be achieved by a violent attempt to radically change the centre of authority
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Society
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In changes in the state, moderation is a virtue
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