Enemy of revolutionary metaphysics: Edmund Burke, between liberal and traditionalist.

Authors

  • ANTONIO RIVERA GARCÍA

Keywords:

revolution, theory, historical Constitution, political economy, traditionalism.

Abstract

This article deals with Burke’s complex political thinking. On the one hand, he is a whig defending some of the basic principles which were to be developed by nineteenth-century liberalism. On the other hand, his criticism of the French Revolution and its main agents, as well as his exaltation of the traditional Constitution, provide a significant part of the arguments we will find later among conservatives and counterrevolutionaries. This article also points out the fact that, among the extensive Burkean bibliography, some classical works are still essential: Leo Strauss is unavoidable in order to understand Burke’s hostility towards theory; Pocock has proficiently dealt with Burke’s connections and differences with the Scottish School; and Meinecke is essential in order to analyze the supposed traditionalism and historicism of the British thinker.

Published

2010-11-30