Ask a a guy who just wrote a 20 page paper on Edmund Burke anything.
What were his least favorite things about the French Revolution?
How did he feel about India?
What did he think about the Irish?
>>860375
>What were his least favorite things about the French Revolution?
He hated the whole thing so much it's hard to narrow it down.
He hated abstract reasoning in the first place, and to him the idea that you would base a revolution on "rights of man" derived purely from abstractions was satanic.
He hated people who thought inequality was a problem because he saw inequality as God's Will and simply human nature. Meddling with inequality was meddling with God's work.
His belief in prescription (supporting customs and institutions long-established) negates the entire concept of a revolution in the first place.
Burke hated the Jacobins so much that he started to look favourably on marie antoinette of all people, even though French Absolutism was absolutely not something he supported philosophically. But he thought French Absolutism was 10 trillion times better than the French Revolution.
>How did he feel about India?
He didn't think that a company, the East India Company, should be given a monopoly over India by the British government. He saw it has terribly corrupt and unjust. He defended the rights of Indians not to face tyranny. However he also believed in the goodness of the British Empire as a civilizing mission and saw Indians as inferior to the British.
>>860355
What was his middle name? Did he love his wife? If he were alive today, would he enjoy Cheetos? Available at your local Kroger for $4.99?
>>860382
What did he think about the Irish?
This is an interesting topic. Of Course Burke was born in Dublin. His father was a solicitor and thus had to be an anglican (you couldn't practice law then unless you were anglican). There are some rumours that his father was a convert to Anglicanism, but they are unsubstantiated. His father wasn't Irish though, he was Anglo-Norman.
Then you have the fact that Burke's mother was an Irish Catholic. Burke loved his mother dearly, and had a notoriously bad relationship with his father.
Burke himself was baptized and raised anglican, but his sister was raised catholic.
THEN on top of that Burke married a Catholic.
There was speculation for his entire political career that he was a cypto-catholic and he had to take an oath against trans-substantiation and the authority of the pope when he entered Westminster.
So with that context you can see that Burke had geographic ties to Ireland, was half Irish by blood, and was surrounded by Irish Catholic women his entire life.
He refers to himself as an Englishman in his writings, perhaps purely to distance himself from the crypto-catholic speculations.
At the time that Burke was alive there were several anti-catholic laws that afflicted the Irish, including preventing them from entering the Franchise and running for office. He worked to repeal some of these anti-catholic measures. He certainly did not consider them to be inferior to the English and instead speaks highly of Ireland on many occasions.
HOWEVER, he supported fully the Glorious Revolution and saw the need to exclude Catholics from the crown an essential defence of the ancient principles of the English constitution.
>>860446
>What was his middle name?
Didn't have one.
>Did he love his wife?
Dearly. Her name was Jane and she the was the daughter of a Catholic doctor from Bath, England. He wrote to one of his friends that he loved her just as much for her appearance as for her personality.
>If he were alive today, would he enjoy Cheetos? Available at your local Kroger for $4.99?
He got drunk pretty often at pubs and liked pub fare. probably.
>>860469
If you can answer weird dumbass questions like mine, you've done great research.
You'll be above the curve son
How did Burke feel after he was proven right about the French Revolution?
Did he ever mention Paine or Wollstonecraft later? I know he never wrote formal replies to them.
>>860500
>How did Burke feel after he was proven right about the French Revolution?
Vindicated in a sense, but he was very concerned, up until his death in 1797, about rising Jacobinism in Ireland and elsewhere in Europe.
>Did he ever mention Paine or Wollstonecraft later? I know he never wrote formal replies to them.
He read the 'Rights of Man', but I don't think he ever directly addressed it or Paine himself. He doesn't mention Wollstonecraft either. He refers to Rousseau and 'disciples of Rousseau' and Jacobins.
Did he ever comment any on the pre-Christian faiths of England or elsewhere?
>>860469
>He got drunk pretty often at pubs and liked pub fare. probably.
Wow you really looked into this guy. Would you mind me asking what his most notable achievement was?
>>860580
>Did he ever comment any on the pre-Christian faiths of England or elsewhere?
Not that I'm aware of.
He rarely if ever even mentions non-Christian religions. the closest thing I can think of is that he opposed when the "Mohammedans" imposed jizra on the 'Hindoos' on India.
>>860582
>Would you mind me asking what his most notable achievement was?
That's easy, Burke is the intellectual founder of Conservatism.
From Kirk:
>"He is, nevertheless, the principal source of modern conservative belief. It was in France, after the defeat of Napoleon, that the words "conservateur" and "conservatif" were coined to describe a concept of politics founded on the ideas of Burke: prudence and prescription, guarding and preserving a country's institutions."
As someone who has meant to read up on Burke this thread has been interesting, thanks.
What should I start with if I want to study up on him?
Do you think he should be more widely studied, and is on to something, or is someone who should be left alone so we can focus on progress/more modern thinkers/whatever else? Let's get some judgements rather than facts up in this bitch
Ask a guy who just wrote a 2 word paper about Hegel's big fucking cock anything.
>>860638
The father of Cuckservatism, you mean.
Edmund Burke was a whig and his contribution to "conservatism" was changing it's meaning to "preserving the last victories of radicals".
>>860355
To what extent is it legit that conservatives, especially in Britain, use Burke as their poster child?
>>860787
Is that supposed to be Zizek?
>>860355
I don't talk to undergrads
>>860355
Was it worth it?
>>860811
if you honestly think that the glorious revolution was a victory of rascals you don't know anything about history.
Burke was a Rockinghamite Whig, and he refered to himself as an "Old Whig." He wasn't a chamamite or a follower of Fox.
>>860648
>What should I start with if I want to study up on him?
read Reflections on the Revolution in France.
Russell Kirk also has a great book about him called "Edmund Burke: A Genius Reconsidered"
>Do you think he should be more widely studied, and is on to something, or is someone who should be left alone so we can focus on progress/more modern thinkers/whatever else?
I'm personally right-wing so I'm biased, but I think he's brilliant and should be studied more.
I think Burke's critiques of the Enlightenment are still very relevant in the modern world. He was essentially giving a big warning against Humans thinking that we are invisible and starting to play god with politics and society.
He was telling us we need to know who we are and where we came from before we even think about change. That's a message that is sorely lacking today.
>>860355
Who?
>>860355
Can you post it as a PDF?
>>861076
This. The GR was a reaction to the violation of the ancient English constitution rather than a radical rebellion. The Whigs at the time were very careful to emphasize that replacing the monarch was not something to be done frivolously, and rebuffed the radical Lockeans who wanted to implement a formal 'right to resist' into English law.
