This volume of The Writings and Speeches of Edmund Burke continues the story of Edmund Burke, the Rockingham party in British politics, and the American crisis. By 1774 Burke was already recognized as a master of parliamentary debate and an accomplished writer. By 1780, however, his reputation was to have risen substantially. Probably the most important single reason was his Speech on Conciliation with America, which was presented to the House of Commons in March 1775, (...) published, and circulated to a wide audience on both sides of the Atlantic. In that speech, Burke used the full force of his intellect and eloquence to set out the Rockinghams' first comprehensive plan for achieving lasting peace in the Empire. The public commendation he received helped him to gain recognition for offerings such as his second conciliation proposal in November 1775, and his Letter to the Sheriffs of Bristol in 1777. It also gave him some of the confidence he needed to announce the Whig party's historic conversion to a moderate reform programme in his celebrated speeches on economical reform in 1779 and 1780. Numerous writings and speeches in this volume are transcriptions of previously unpublished manuscripts from the collections at Sheffield and Northampton. These allow the reader new insights into the workings of Burke's mind not just in relation to the major political issues, but also to a multitude of engaging subjects such as education, capital punishment, religious dissent, and the return of the Rockingham Whigs to government power. (shrink)

Studies in philosophy: I. Tufts, J.H. On moral evolution. II. Willcos, W.F. The expansion of Europe in its influence upon population. III. Woods, R.A. Democracy a new unfolding of human power. IV. Sharp, F.C. An analysis of the moral judgment. V. Woodbridge, F.J.E. The problem of consciousness. VI. Norton, E.L. The intellectual element in music. VII. Raub, W.L. Pragmatism and Kantianism. VIII. Lyman, E.W. The influence of pragmatism upon the status of theology.--Studies in psychology: IX. Delabarre, E.B. Influence of surrounding (...) objects on the apparent direction of a line. X. Swift, E.J. Beginning a language; a contribution to the psychology of learning. XI. Pierce, A.H. An appeal from the prevailing doctrine of a detached subconsciousness. XII. Woodworth, R.S. The cause of a voluntary movement. XIII. Burnett, C.T. An experimental test of the classical theory of volition. (shrink)

The re-issue of Professor Cobban’s book on Edmund Burke is a cannonade in the war of skirmishes which still goes on between the disciples of the late Sir Lewis Namier and his critics. One of the casualties in the fighting was Edmund Burke, who had the misfortune to have lived, as a man of ideas, during a period in which Namier claimed that political ideas were at a discount. Burke’s political philosophy was written oft as (...) the rationalising of a party hack who thought that earth had not created anything more fair than the Marquess of Rockingham. However, he has found numerous defenders, among them Professor Cobban, well known as a critic of Namier. His book dates from 1929, a year before the publication of The Structure of Politics at the Accession of George III, and its second edition appears a year or so later than the second edition of Namier’s masterpiece. It is a useful, competent introduction to the main ideas of Burke and those of Wordsworth, Coleridge and the Lake School of Poets. It suffers however by comparison with Namier, with Halevy’s book upon Burke’s ‘rival’, Jeremy Bentham, and more pertinently with Professor Cobban’s mature writing, such as In Search of Humanity or his contributions to the Cambridge Modern History. It also looks dated, when the onward march of Burkiana, notably the Burke correspondence, is taken into consideration. The book has great merit, however. It takes Burke seriously as a political thinker, and this is all to the good but, like Burke himself, it is vague where precision is called for. A good book on Burke is badly needed. It is a pity that Professor Cobban was unable to fill the gap by rewriting this work. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Journal of the History of Ideas 61.3 (2000) 453-471 [Access article in PDF] Liberty, Authority, and Trust in Burke's Idea of Empire Richard Bourke When Edmund Burke first embarked upon a parliamentary career, British political life was in the process of adapting to a series of critical reorientations in both the dynamics of party affiliation and the direction of imperial policy. During the period of the (...) Seven Years' War, a reconstituted militia became a focus for patriotic enthusiasm, uniting national sentiment against France and effectively eradicating the remnants of Jacobite rhetoric and aspiration. Traditional opposition between Tory and Whig became irrelevant, while Court and Country jointly came to the support of the Pitt-Newcastle ministry. However, in due course the Old Corps disintegrated as George III succeeded to the throne with the promise of an end to factional strife and the beginning of a patriotic alliance in government. But while competing ideologies and interests on the domestic political scene were undergoing comprehensive realignment, the pursuit of a blue-water policy in tandem with strategic continental campaigns brought Britain's struggle against France into North America, the Caribbean, and India. Trade continued to expand into Asia and West Africa, but the principles of commercial advantage were continually brought into open conflict with the exigencies of war. The division of power in Europe became embroiled in a substantial redivision of empire, and by 1763 British territorial expansion had reached its zenith.When Burke was appointed private secretary to the Marquis of Rockingham, with the national debt standing at an all time high and the demands of imperial defense unlikely to diminish, the politics of empire called for urgent attention from all sections of the political establishment. In particular the Rockinghamites, adopting a posture of aloofness from venality and petty interest, were obliged to advance policies for imperial government on the solid basis of political principle. 1 Coming into parliament as a member for Wendover in the wake of [End Page 453] Grenville's Stamp Act, at a time when the East India Company was assuming control of the revenue in Bengal, Burke set about formulating a doctrine of imperial sovereignty which would be serviceable to the party either in power or in opposition and which would be adequate to the complex reality of detached and extensive empire. The immediate reception of that inquiry, both in Britain and on the Continent, into the fraught world of post-Revolutionary political debate has had the long-term effect of distorting the order of emphasis in terms of which his career as a whole ought properly to be understood.The vigorous elaboration, in opposition to the Jacobin experiment in France, of the conditions under which moderate government could be exercised within the context of an absolute sovereignty was expressed in terms which had originally been invoked as part of a sustained attempt to reconcile civility with empire. As we shall see, that attempt involved a process of delicate coordination by means of which the interests of freedom would be brought into harmony with the demands of public power. In that sense the effort to make liberty and authority mutually responsible can be said to constitute the core ambition of Burke's political rhetoric. In this context responsibility defines the optimally beneficial relation between government and people on the one hand and national sovereignty and the extended empire on the other. This article outlines the practical and theoretical exploration of those relations within the frame of Burke's intervention in the world of eighteenth-century political discourse.Burke was of course well placed in 1765 to evolve a theory of imperial government that was at once ideologically compelling and politically viable. In his capacity as secretary to William Gerard Hamilton in the early 1760s he had already examined the corruption of legitimate empire as represented by the introduction of penal legislation into Ireland after 1694. The Tracts Relating to Popery Laws set out to convict the Irish Parliament in Dublin of flagrant misrule. A subordinate legislature within the empire is charged with having employed... (shrink)

This, the last volume in the series, provides the keys to all the others. All letters to and from Burke are listed, and the material in the letters themselves analysed in a comprehensive general index.

Presents Edmund Burke's writings on politics, history, culture, and society along with selections from his letters.

This selection from his speeches and writings reveals a political philosophy which is viable. even prophetic, in our own time. Burke's distrust of disembodied reason, his vision of the law of all nations, and his wide pragmatism speak to everyone concerned with maintaining the democratic freedoms in an age when millions are subject to the tyranny of abstract political ideas. -- back cover.

Edmund Burke was one of the most influential commentators on the events of the French Revolution. This edition throws new light on Burke's motives, and the reasons why his writings were both widely read and widely rejected.

Volume 1 of the Writings and Speeches of Edmund Burke presents Burke's early literary writings up to 1765, and before he became a key political figure. It is the first fully annotated and critical edition, with comprehensive notes and an authoritative introduction. The writings published here introduce readers to Burke's early attempts at a public voice. They demonstrate in a variety of ways how determined he was to become involved in the social and intellectual life of (...) his times. The one work of Burke's early life which has long been recognized as having prime critical significance, the Sublime and the Beautiful, is naturally found here. In addition the volume includes the first fully edited version of other works which have been neglected, notably the Vindication of Natural Society, a substantial satire on current philosophical and religious thought, the Abridgement of English History and the Hints for an Essay on the Drama. The volume also prints reliable texts of his early poems and prose `characters' as well as the first complete text of The Reformer since it was first published in 1748. This was a weekly paper devoted principally to the Dublin cultural scene and was edited by Burke shortly after he graduated from Trinity College, Dublin. (shrink)

This volume of Burke's writings and speeches is divided into two parts. The first covers the period between the time of his retirement from the House of Commons in 1794 and his death in 1797. His main preoccupation during this period was, of course, the French Revolution and the progress of the war against France. Surveying developments with dismay and apprehension, he produced a critique of the Revolution which expressed much of his mature thinking on political and social life, (...) and issued a clarion call for a European crusade to save civilization. Part II contains Burke's writings and speeches relating to Ireland. From his entry into political life, he was intensely interested in Irish problems, religious, economic, and constitutional, and in Anglo-Irish relations. Fervently believing that Great Britain and Ireland should be partners within the Empire, in his last years he was deeply disturbed by the influence of the French Revolution on Irish politics. (shrink)

This key volume specifically completes the collection of Edmund Burke's Indian Writings and Speeches which is set within the series, and is both an exposition of Burke's views on India from his coverage of the Hastings trial, and his views on maintaining the rule of a universal justice. The texts for the items, which have appeared in previous editions of Burke's Works, have been reconstructed, largely by the use of manuscripts. Indeed many of the shorter speeches (...) appear here in print for the first time. The volume includes a key speech which introduced one of the main charges in the trial of Warren Hastings on an impeachment from 1789-1794, and an important report on the conduct of the trial. It closes with the enormously lengthy and significant speech in which Burke summed up the prosecution's case over nine days. However, this volume is not only a full exposition of Burke's views on India but contains much of great interest about other aspects of his thought. In particular, Burke saw himself in these years as being engaged in a battle against the lawless disruption of society, both in Europe and in Asia, in order to maintain the rule of a universal justice, a main theme of this volume. (shrink)

This volume continues the story of Burke and the affairs of the East India Company which was begun in Volume V. By 1786, Burke had fixed on Warren Hastings as the main culprit for the abuses that seemed to him so glaring. He greeted Hastings's return to Britain with a parliamentary attack which culminated in a trial by impeachment in the House of Lords. This was to be one of Burke's major preoccupations for the rest of his (...) life. The material presented in this volume covers two years of proceedings in the House of Commons and the first session of the trial in the Lords. Its highlights are two great set-piece speeches delivered to the Commons, which can be reconstructed from manuscript material as well as from contemporary reports; and the four-day oration with which Burke opened the prosecution before the Lords: for this a complete verbatim shorthand record exists. The material in these and other speeches is not only central to an understanding of Burke and India, but to his moral and political thought as a whole in the years immediately before the outbreak of the French Revolution. (shrink)

An eloquent and sometimes even erotic book, the Philosophical Enquiry was long dismissed as a piece of mere juvenilia. However, Burke's analysis of the relationship between emotion, beauty, and art form is now recognized as not only an important and influential work of aesthetic theory, but also one of the first major works in European literature on the Sublime, a subject that has fascinated thinkers from Kant and Coleridge to the philosophers and critics of today. This is the only (...) available edition of the work. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more. (shrink)

This new and up-to-date edition of a book that has been central to political philosophy, history, and revolutionary thought for two hundred years offers readers a dire warning of the consequences that follow the mismanagement of change. Written for a generation presented with challenges of terrible proportions--the Industrial, American, and French Revolutions, to name the most obvious--Burke's Reflections of the Revolution in France displays an acute awareness of how high political stakes can be, as well as a keen ability (...) to set contemporary problems within a wider context of political theory. (shrink)

Edmund Burke ist vor allem als fortschrittsfeindlicher Kritiker der Französischen Revolution und als Vordenker des modernen Konservatismus bekannt. Der vorliegende Band versammelt politische Schriften Burkes, die ein komplexeres und widersprüchlicheres Bild ergeben. Sie zeigen ihn als vernunftkritischen Aufklärer, als Verfechter und zugleich als Kritiker des Britischen Empire, als politischen Reformer, der dennoch die traditionelle Ordnung verteidigt, und als liberalen Ökonomen, der die überkommenen Macht- und Eigentumsverhältnisse bewahren will.

By the eighteenth century, the term 'sublime' was used to communicate a sense of unfathomable and awe-inspiring greatness, whether in nature or thought. The relationship of sublimity to classical definitions of beauty was much debated, but the first philosopher to portray them as opposing forces was Edmund Burke. Originally published in 1757 and reissued here in the revised second edition of 1759, this influential treatise explores the psychological origins of both ideas. Presented as distinct consequences of very separate (...) emotional lineages, beauty and sublimity are traced back through a web of human feelings, from self-preservation instincts to lust. Burke's doctrine of the sublime was to have far-reaching effects. In Britain, it informed perceptions of landscape in art and literature for years to come. Meanwhile, on the continent, Kant regarded Burke as 'the foremost author' in 'the empirical exposition of aesthetic judgments'. (shrink)

This is the first collection of the writings of Edmund Burke which precede Reflections on the Revolution in France, and the first to do justice to the connections and breadth of Burke's thought. A thinker whose range transcends formal boundaries, Burke has been highly prized by both conservatives and liberals, and this new edition charts the development of Burke's thought and its importance as a response to the events of his day. Burke's mind spanned (...) theology, aesthetics, moral philosophy and history, as well as the political affairs of Ireland, England, America, India and France, and he united these concerns in his view of inequality. In the writings in this edition Burke indicated how societies embodying revealed religion and social hierarchy could sustain civilisation and political liberty. These thoughts reached their apogee in Reflections on the Revolution in France. This edition provides the student with all the necessary information for an understanding of the complexities of Burke's thought. Each text is prefaced by a summary and notes to the texts elucidate the literary and historical references. An introduction and biographical and bibliographical essays help place these works in the context of Burke's thought as a whole. (shrink)

'One of the greatest essays ever written on art.' - The Guardian Edmund Burke’s Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful is one of the most important works of aesthetics ever written. Whilst many writers have taken up their pen to write of ‘the beautiful’, Burke’s subject here was that quality he uniquely distinguished as ‘the sublime’ – an all-consuming force beyond beauty that compelled terror as much as rapture in all (...) who beheld it. It was an analysis that would go on to inspire some of the leading thinkers of the Enlightenment, including Immanuel Kant and Denis Diderot. The Routledge Classics edition presents the authoritative text of the first critical edition of Burke’s essay ever published, including a substantial critical and historical commentary. (shrink)

CONTENTS LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Vtt A CHRONOLOGY OF EDMUND BURKE INTRODUCTION X FURTHER READING XXxix A NOTE ON THE TEXTS xliv A Vindication of Natural ...

A major puzzle in contemporary political theory is how to extend notions of justice to the environment. With environmental entities unable to communicate in ways that are traditionally recognised within the political sphere, their interests have largely been recognised instrumentally: only important as they contribute to human interests. In response to the multispecies justice project's call to reimagine our concepts of justice to include other-than-human beings and entities, we offer a novel reading of Edmund Burke's account of political (...) representation that, we argue, can be applied to the environment. Burke claimed that interests are ‘unattached’ to any actual class or group, and that it is the duty of the representative to represent these unattached interests. Beyond providing an original application of Burke's work, the paper offers an alternative to the ‘allure’ of authoritarian environmentalism, an alternative which conservative thinkers may use as an entryway into debates on environmental justice. (shrink)

Given his commitment to toleration, Edmund Burke is rightly seen as a moral pluralist. What has largely gone unnoticed, however, is his value pluralism. Whereas moral pluralism refers to normative...