Discussion of Chapter Six, ‘Reputation, Reason and the Enlightenment Project’, Second Part on ‘Thought’ of Jesse Norman’s book EDMUND BURKE: PHILOSOPHER, POLITICIAN AND PROPHET

Chapter Six, ‘Reputation, Reason and the Enlightenment Project’ begins the Second Part on ‘Thought’ of Jesse Norman’s book Edmund Burke: Philosopher, Politician And Prophet. Norman surveys the reaction to Burke’s writings and speeches following Burke’s death in 1797. He cites the views of many well-known historical figures in addition to lesser known names in the fields of academia, politics and literature. His conclusion, with which one should readily agree even on a brief reading of the opinions, is that there was much ‘bipartisan esteem’ of Burke’s thought.   ‘Amid the ferment of early nineteenth century social, economic and political change,’ he says, ‘many different writers were able over time to find ideas of enduring value within Burke.’ (KL 2320)

‘In the twentieth century,’ he continues, ‘Burke was pressed into service on numerous occasions.’ Those occasions were the fight against communism during the Cold War (the 1950s and 1960s) and the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. It was Burke’s anti-totalitarian rhetoric that American conservatives drew on to drive forward their fight against communism, which represented all forms of totalitarianism. Norman’s tendentious tone here makes it clear he is not convinced of there being any justification for this service. He ends the survey with the following rather puzzling comment.

There has been a persistent desire by some conservative writers to relocate Burke away from a Lockean framework of natural rights and find in him a specifically Christian, indeed Thomist, doctrine of natural law. (KL 2349)