Edmund Burke

Lore & Background

Burke was born in Dublin, Ireland, to a Roman Catholic mother and a father who was a member of the Church of Ireland. He adhered to his father's faith and remained a practising Anglican, though political enemies accused him of secret Catholic sympathies. He received early education at a Quaker school in Ballitore, County Kildare, and later attended Trinity College Dublin, a Protestant establishment. After briefly studying law at the Middle Temple in London, he pursued a livelihood through writing.

His first published work, A Vindication of Natural Society (1756), was a satire imitating the style of Lord Bolingbroke to argue against deistic rationalism. In 1757, he published A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful, his only purely philosophical work. He also founded the influential Annual Register with Robert Dodsley. Burke was elected a member of Parliament for Bristol in 1774 and spent most of his career in the House of Commons.

Burke supported the rights of American colonists to resist metropolitan authority but opposed independence. He is remembered for his long-term support for Catholic emancipation, his opposition to the French Revolution, and leading the impeachment attempt of Warren Hastings. In Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790), he argued the revolution was destroying the fabric of good society and traditional institutions, and condemned the persecution of the Catholic Church.

Reader's Guide

Edmund Burke is regarded as the philosophical founder of conservatism, a status that became widely recognized in the 20th century, especially in the United States and the United Kingdom. His writings, particularly Reflections on the Revolution in France, shaped conservative thought by emphasizing the importance of tradition, religious institutions, and manners for moral stability. He argued against unrestricted ruling power and stressed the need for principled opposition within political parties to prevent abuse of power. Burke's influence extended beyond his own time: in the 19th century, he was praised by both conservatives and liberals. His work helped establish the earliest foundations for modern conservatism and liberal democracy. He remains a major figure in modern conservative circles, and his debates and writings continue to inform political philosophy.

Did You Know?

• Burke was elected a member of Parliament for Bristol in 1774.
• He founded the Annual Register with Robert Dodsley in 1757.
• His work A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful attracted the attention of Denis Diderot and Immanuel Kant.
• Burke led the attempt at impeachment of Warren Hastings from the East India Company.

Notable Quotes (Wikiquote)

"The writers against religion, whilst they oppose every system, are wisely careful never to set up any of their own." — Edmund Burke "A definition may be very exact, and yet go but a very little way towards informing us of the nature of the thing defined." — Edmund Burke "The first and the simplest emotion which we discover in the human mind is Curiosity." — Edmund Burke "The person who grieves, suffers his passion to grow upon him; he indulges it, he loves it; but this never happens in the case of actual pain, which no man ever willingly endured for any considerable time." — Edmund Burke