Thinkers and political figures
Portrait: James Northcote, via Wikimedia Commons (opens in a new tab) · Public domain
Edmund Burke
- Country
- Ireland and Great Britain
- Era
- 1729–1797
- Tradition
- Classical conservatism
Founded modern conservatism with the argument that society is an inheritance too complex to redesign — while supporting the American colonists and prosecuting the abuses of British rule in India.
01
Documented positions
Documented positions come from the sources listed. Similarity is this project’s inference from those positions, and is a much weaker claim.
- Society is a partnership between the living, the dead and those yet to be born (Reflections, 1790)
- Opposed the French Revolution’s attempt to rebuild a society from abstract principle
- Supported the American colonists’ grievances against the Crown
- Led the impeachment of Warren Hastings over the conduct of the East India Company in Bengal
02
Where it sits on each dimension
Wealth and inequality
66
RedistributionMarket outcomes
Evidence: Documented
The state in the economy
62
Active stateLimited state
Evidence: Documented
Personal liberty
52
Collective orderIndividual freedom
Evidence: Documented
Tradition and change
10
ContinuityReform
Evidence: Well documented
Nation and the world
60
InternationalistNationalist
Evidence: Documented
Religion and the state
72
Secular stateReligion in public life
Evidence: Well documented
Power and its limits
55
Concentrated authorityChecks and pluralism
Evidence: Documented
Dimensions left unscored, for want of evidence: Environment and growth, Crime and punishment
Sources
- Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France · 1790
- Edmund Burke, Speeches in the Impeachment of Warren Hastings · 1788–1795
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