Those who’ve read my blog or listened to my podcast are no doubt already aware I throw in my lot with conservatives who look to 18th century British statesmen Edmund Burke as the foremost conservative who is most responsible for laying the foundations of the modern conservative worldview. Of course, not all conservatives agree on this matter. Burke’s most famous writing—Reflections on the Revolution in France—is one of the most eloquent and powerful counter-revolutionary texts ever written. It can be challenging, then, to wrestle with how one combines Burkean conservatism with the American Right, who draw inspiration from our own revolution.

The Straussians (Leo Strauss) may admire Burke but ultimately find fault with his beliefs and point to the ancients for their justification for a free and ordered regime. Others draw an irreconcilable chasm between American conservatism (as embodied by John Adams) and Burke’s supposed “European” conservatism that abhorred general principles and political actions justified solely on the grounds of natural rights. I side with Yuval Levin (noted later in the list) who wrote “the difference between Burke’s and Adams’s circumstances meant each man’s mix would have to differ some. Russell Kirk went too far when he argued…that ‘it is difficult to draw any clear line of demarcation’ between Adams and Burke, yet I do think he was right to suggest that ‘these two great conservatives occupy common ground, but they press their separate assaults against radicalism with different weapons’.”

Burke wrote eloquently, but his writings can be difficult to untangle as he deliberately avoided political “systems” or grand principles and instead spoke only in specific instances unique to each circumstance. Thus, to understand Burke one must understand the context in which he was writing. Burke abhorred what he called the “metaphysicians” of his day who devised complicated ideologies that ignored particulars and sought to impose their views universally. Some believe this suggests that Burke was a utilitarian at heart (caring not for which direction we were headed so long as it was gradual and prudent). But Burke scholar Peter J. Stanlis argues forcefully in the introduction to Edmund Burke: Selected Writings and Speeches this was not so. Burke’s views were deeply interwoven in his Christian theology and his admonition to seek gradual change was a reflection on his underlying faith in God’s Providence and trust in the wise statesman’s prudence and prescription.

For a more in-depth look at what Burke has to offer conservatives, check out the Saving Elephants Podcast episode 140 – Back to Burke.