Philosopher · Modern
Edmund Burke
1729–1797 · Conservatism; prescription and natural law
Church of Ireland by conformity, with a Catholic mother and wife; a lifelong advocate of Catholic relief and a frequent Catholic ally.
Burke, statesman and orator, defended the inherited constitution, the “little platoons” of family and locality, and society as a partnership between the living, the dead and the unborn, against the abstract rationalism of the French Revolution. His impeachment of Warren Hastings invoked a natural law binding every people, and he fought for the relief of Irish Catholics.
Why he matters: His reverence for tradition and distrust of remaking society by reason match the Church's judgment on 1789 (Quanta Cura, the Syllabus), his little platoons anticipate subsidiarity, and de Maistre, Chateaubriand, Newman's generation and Russell Kirk all learned from him.
Where to be careful
He remained a Protestant defender of the Anglican establishment, and his ally status should not be mistaken for Catholic doctrine; his prescriptive reasoning can slide into treating custom itself as the standard, where the Church holds that tradition is judged by the natural and divine law.
Reading
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Reflections on the Revolution in FranceEdmund Burke · The classic defense of inherited wisdom.
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Edmund Burke and the Natural LawPeter J. Stanlis · Burke read as a natural-law thinker in the Catholic sense.
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Edmund Burke: A Genius ReconsideredRussell Kirk · A Catholic convert's portrait.
Documented positions
Where this thinker stands on each dispute the test covers.