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This essay studies recent scholarly debates over Edmund Burke’s (1729/30-1797) relation to the Roman Catholic faith. In this essay the main arguments and considerations that have been presented in Burke scholarship since the 1990s are presented and assessed. In the light of the contemporary caricaturing of Burke as a crypto-Papist in the 18th century, and the continued debate in recent scholarship over how close Burke stood to the Roman Catholic faith, this study aims to understand what can be said about Burke’s thought as it has been presented by recent scholars. The main question posed in this essay is whether Catholicism is essential to understand Burke, and therefore a correct understanding of Burke not being possible without taking this aspect into account. The question is analysed by studying to what extent recent scholars argue for Catholicism being essential and necessary to understand Burke’s life and thought.

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Esta dissertação procura discutir como a obra de Edmund Burke, Uma Investigação Filosófica sobre a Origem de nossas Idéias do Sublime e do Belo, introduz um sentido novo de sublime, distinto daquele presente nas poéticas e retóricas clássicas, a partir do rompimento dos paradigmas da clareza e do prazer. Ao caracterizar a experiência do sublime como marcada por incertezas, ambigüidades e contradições, em que os objetos da contemplação são vistos apenas de maneira parcial e obscura, Burke descreve uma experiência que não depende do primado da visão e que, portanto, abrange os demais órgãos do sentido e seus vocábulos. Essas questões são pensadas a partir do modo como o autor reorganiza três antigas dicotomias do pensamento clássico: dor e prazer, corpo e mente, palavra e coisa. No capítulo primeiro, acerca dos pressupostos da experiência do sublime em Burke, (as paixões violentas e mistas e o sentimento de autopreservação), discutimos como prazer e dor não se articulam no autor como ganho e perda, mas enquanto relações efetivas de oposição, e como isso se mostra na fruição do espectador, sobretudo em relação aos espetáculos trágicos, sejam eles fictícios ou reais. No capítulo segundo, a descrição das paisagens vastas e ilimitadas servem de argumento para a restrição de Burke à atuação da visão na experiência do sublime. Ao ser incapaz de estabelecer os contornos do objeto que contempla o espectador se vê diante de um jogo de expectativa e surpresa (tensão e relaxamento) que mais se assemelha às ascensões e quedas de uma peça musical, ou aos movimentos respiratórios do corpo, criada por edifícios arquitetônicos e jardinspaisagens. No capítulo terceiro, discutimos a defesa de Burke de uma linguagem não imagética, que não comunica ou afeta por idéias sensíveis. Não mais vista como imagem, ou representação, a palavra ganha um estatuto de coisa em sua dimensão concreta, áspera e irregular. A poesia e a retórica também estão entre os temas debatidos, sobretudo a partir de seu contraste com a pintura e em oposição ao princípio humanista do Paragone, ou a comparação entre as artes. / This dissertation aims to make a discussion on how Edmund Burkes A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origins of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful introduces a new sense of the sublime, distinct from the one conceived by classical poetics and rhetoric, due to its opposition to the paradigm of clarity and pleasure. Once Burke portrays the sublime experience as being tinged with uncertainties, ambiguities and contradictions, where the objects of contemplation are only seen partially and obscurely, the experience he describes doesnt depend on the supremacy of vision and, as such, comprises the other senses. These questions are tackled by looking at the way the author rearrange three old dichotomies in classical thinking: pain and pleasure, body and mind, word and thing. In the first chapter we make a discussion on the grounds of Burkes sublime experience (the violent and mixed passions and the sense of self-preservation), and how pleasure and pain are no longer thought by the author as a loss and gain relation, but as truly and effectively oppositions. This is also shown in the pleasure the spectator feels while contemplating a scene from a real or a fictitious tragedy. In the second chapter, the descriptions of vast and boundless landscapes serve Burke as a further argument on the restricted role vision plays in the sublime experience. Incapable of setting the bounds to the contemplated object, the spectator sees himself winded in a game of expectation and surprise (stress and relief) which somehow resembles the rises and falls of a musical piece, or the breath movements of the body, created by buildings and landscape gardens. In the third chapter, we discuss Burkes attack on the opinion that words communicate and affect by sensible images. Disentangled from the image, or representation, words can then be seen as things, in their tangible, rough and irregular shapes. Poetry and rhetoric are also among the topics discussed in this chapter, especially from their contrast with painting, and from Burkes opposition to the humanistic Paragons principle.

Esta dissertação procura discutir como a obra de Edmund Burke, Uma Investigação Filosófica sobre a Origem de nossas Idéias do Sublime e do Belo, introduz um sentido novo de sublime, distinto daquele presente nas poéticas e retóricas clássicas, a partir do rompimento dos paradigmas da clareza e do prazer. Ao caracterizar a experiência do sublime como marcada por incertezas, ambigüidades e contradições, em que os objetos da contemplação são vistos apenas de maneira parcial e obscura, Burke descreve uma experiência que não depende do primado da visão e que, portanto, abrange os demais órgãos do sentido e seus vocábulos. Essas questões são pensadas a partir do modo como o autor reorganiza três antigas dicotomias do pensamento clássico: dor e prazer, corpo e mente, palavra e coisa. No capítulo primeiro, acerca dos pressupostos da experiência do sublime em Burke, (as paixões violentas e mistas e o sentimento de autopreservação), discutimos como prazer e dor não se articulam no autor como ganho e perda, mas enquanto relações efetivas de oposição, e como isso se mostra na fruição do espectador, sobretudo em relação aos espetáculos trágicos, sejam eles fictícios ou reais. No capítulo segundo, a descrição das paisagens vastas e ilimitadas servem de argumento para a restrição de Burke à atuação da visão na experiência do sublime. Ao ser incapaz de estabelecer os contornos do objeto que contempla o espectador se vê diante de um jogo de expectativa e surpresa (tensão e relaxamento) que mais se assemelha às ascensões e quedas de uma peça musical, ou aos movimentos respiratórios do corpo, criada por edifícios arquitetônicos e jardinspaisagens. No capítulo terceiro, discutimos a defesa de Burke de uma linguagem não imagética, que não comunica ou afeta por idéias sensíveis. Não mais vista como imagem, ou representação, a palavra ganha um estatuto de coisa em sua dimensão concreta, áspera e irregular. A poesia e a retórica também estão entre os temas debatidos, sobretudo a partir de seu contraste com a pintura e em oposição ao princípio humanista do Paragone, ou a comparação entre as artes. / This dissertation aims to make a discussion on how Edmund Burkes A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origins of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful introduces a new sense of the sublime, distinct from the one conceived by classical poetics and rhetoric, due to its opposition to the paradigm of clarity and pleasure. Once Burke portrays the sublime experience as being tinged with uncertainties, ambiguities and contradictions, where the objects of contemplation are only seen partially and obscurely, the experience he describes doesnt depend on the supremacy of vision and, as such, comprises the other senses. These questions are tackled by looking at the way the author rearrange three old dichotomies in classical thinking: pain and pleasure, body and mind, word and thing. In the first chapter we make a discussion on the grounds of Burkes sublime experience (the violent and mixed passions and the sense of self-preservation), and how pleasure and pain are no longer thought by the author as a loss and gain relation, but as truly and effectively oppositions. This is also shown in the pleasure the spectator feels while contemplating a scene from a real or a fictitious tragedy. In the second chapter, the descriptions of vast and boundless landscapes serve Burke as a further argument on the restricted role vision plays in the sublime experience. Incapable of setting the bounds to the contemplated object, the spectator sees himself winded in a game of expectation and surprise (stress and relief) which somehow resembles the rises and falls of a musical piece, or the breath movements of the body, created by buildings and landscape gardens. In the third chapter, we discuss Burkes attack on the opinion that words communicate and affect by sensible images. Disentangled from the image, or representation, words can then be seen as things, in their tangible, rough and irregular shapes. Poetry and rhetoric are also among the topics discussed in this chapter, especially from their contrast with painting, and from Burkes opposition to the humanistic Paragons principle.

This study compares and contrasts the writings of Edmund Burke and Adam Smith, to determine whether they are contradictory, compatible, or complementary. Burke can be regarded as the founder of modern conservatism, and Smith is an early and powerful advocate of market-orientated liberalism. Today, their ideas have been blended into a system of “liberal conservatism” that serves as the unofficial political ideology of most right-of centre parties throughout the English-speaking world. However, it is not so immediately apparent that Smith and Burke can be reconciled with each other. In the course of this study, Burke and Smith’s ideas are considered at various levels of abstraction. They share a nuanced view of human beings as complex, social, sympathetic and self-interested. They both adhere to an empiricist epistemology that is distrustful of deductive rationality, especially when applied to complex human societies. In order to cope with this complexity, Burke and Smith alike counsel humility and pragmatism, and emphasise the importance of contingency. Furthermore, they suggest that policymakers rely on mechanisms that reveal information held by large numbers of individuals: tradition in the case of Burke, and the market mechanism in the case of Smith. Burke is a staunch opponent of arbitrary power, and an advocate of colonial liberty. However, he defends the prescriptive powers of the state, and argues that liberty should be tempered by self-restraint. Smith advocates a “system of natural liberty” in economic affairs, but acknowledges that such a system takes place within the framework of a coercive state. In terms of policy, Burke and Smith share similar views on external free trade and laissez-faire within the domestic economy, but there are important stylistic and substantive differences in their views on the relief of the poor. Ultimately, this study argues that Burke and Smith’s complementary policymaking framework, rather than their actual views on policy, is the true point of convergence between them. / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Political Sciences / unrestricted

Ce travail examine le problème de l'intervention d'un État ou d'un peuple dans les affaires d'un autre tel qu'il fut formulé dans le libéralisme naissant et à partir de la conjoncture ouverte par la Révolution française de 1789. Après un détour par les auteurs du droit des gens, il examine les écrits de Burke et de Godwin afin de donner à voir la nature polémique et les origines révolutionnaires du concept d'intervention. Puis, prenant comme fil directeur l'œuvre de John Stuart Mill, qui s'est penché de manière récurrente sur ce problème, en lui apportant des réponses diverses et contradictoires, il s'efforce d'en montrer l'équivocité. Loin de pouvoir se ramener à un simple chapitre de la théorie de la guerre ou du droit international, la question de l'intervention militaire fut au contraire réfléchie en relation avec l'économie, la politique ou encore la morale - les penseurs libéraux, tels que John Stuart Mill, Benjamin Constant, ou encore Richard Cobden, s'efforçant, dans chacun de ces champs et en faisant circuler les concepts, les maximes et les raisons, d'élaborer un ou des principes de non-intervention. Il propose enfin une nouvelle traduction et une lecture des « Quelques mots sur la non-intervention » de John Stuart Mill, en exhumant la nature dialectique de cet article de 1859. / This study examines the issue of intervention from a State or a people within the affairs of another as formulated in the nascent Liberalism and from the situation brought about by the French Revolution of 1789. After considering the authors of the law of nations, the study examines the writings of Burke and Godwin in order to highlight the controversial nature and revolutionary origins of the concept of intervention. Then, following the work of John Stuart Mill as a guiding theme, a philosopher who has provided diverse and contradictory answers in his recurrent study of this issue, an attempt is made to demonstrate the equivocal nature of intervention. Far from being a simple matter of war theory or international law, the issue of military intervention has on the contrary been considered in relation to economies, politics, and even morals - liberal thinkers, such as John Stuart Mill, Benjamin Constant, and Richard Cobden, having endeavored, in each of these fields and by spreading concepts, maxims and reasons, to elaborate one or several principles of non-intervention. Lastly, a new translation and an interpretation of "A Few Words on Non-Intervention" by John Stuart Mill are proposed by highlighting the dialectical nature of this 1859 article.

The works of Mary Wollstonecraft have been largely utilized in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries within the domain of feminist studies. They were influential throughout the 'feminist movement' of the 1960s and 1970s and Wollstonecraft is routinely given the title of 'mother' of feminism. One result of her works being classified as important feminist texts is the elision of the religious element in her works. Moreover, recent scholarship has drawn attention to the central importance of religion in eighteenth century British discourse. This thesis will primarily argue that Wollstonecraft was heavily influenced by religion, and that her writings were conceived in response to a profoundly theologico-political culture. This influence of religion has generally been overlooked by researchers and this thesis will aim to redress this absence. Four of Wollstonecraft's works - all produced within a 'similar' political climate and within a concise time period - are utilized to show that religion was a foundational element within Wollstonecraft's thought and arguments. This thesis shows that Wollstonecraft was not so much a 'feminist' thinker, but a unique intellectual determined to show that the inferior position of women went against 'God's will', teachings and the equality He had ascribed to both men and women during Creation.

This thesis presents an analysis of Edmund Burke's place in intellectual history by examining his commentary on the French Revolution as well as his role in the Enlightenment itself. In doing so, it brings to bear the previously unexplored ideas of the twentieth-century historian Roy Porter. The thesis proposes that Burke's indictment of French philosophy as the cause of the French Revolution created enduring historiographic connotations between radicalism and the notion of enlightenment. Consequently, British thinkers of the eighteenth-century were invariably dismissed as conservative or reactionary and therefore unworthy to be regarded as enlightened figures. Porter's reconsideration of the British Enlightenment reveals Burke to be a staunch defender of hard-won enlightened values which British society had already long enjoyed.<p>The source material is, for the most part, primary. For Edmund Burke, his correspondence and his Reflections on the Revolution in France. For Roy Porter, his most relevant essays, journal articles and monographs.