Edmund Burke

In Our Time: Philosophy

BBC

History

4.5 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 3 June 2010

⏱️ 42 minutes

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Summary

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the work of the eighteenth-century philosopher, politician and writer Edmund Burke.Born in Dublin, Burke began his career in London as a journalist and made his name with two works of philosophy before entering Parliament. There he quickly established a reputation as one of the most formidable orators of an age which also included Pitt the Younger.When unrest began in America in the 1760s, Burke was quick to defend the American colonists in their uprising. But it was his response to another revolution which ensured he would be remembered by posterity. In 1790 he published Reflections on the Revolution in France, a work of great literary verve which attacked the revolutionaries and predicted disaster for their project. The book prompted Thomas Paine to write his masterpiece Rights of Man, and Mary Wollstonecraft was among the others to take part in the ensuing pamphlet war. Burke's influence shaped our parliamentary democracy and attitude to Empire, and lingers today.With:Karen O'BrienProfessor of English at the University of WarwickRichard BourkeSenior Lecturer in History at Queen Mary, University of LondonJohn KeaneProfessor of Politics at the University of SydneyProducer: Thomas Morris.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Thanks for down learning the In Our Time podcast. For more details about In Our Time and for our terms of use, please go to BBC.co.uk.
0:09.0	I hope you enjoy the program.
0:11.0	Hello, in 1790, 18 months after the storming of the Bastille, a British MP published a pamphlet
0:17.6	which condemned the French Revolution and accused its supporters of bringing anarchy,
0:22.0	violence and terror to the population of France.
0:25.0	Edmund Burke's reflections on the revolution in France is an impassioned, intellectually rigorous
0:30.0	and stylish or written attack, which provoked enormous debate.
0:33.6	Thomas Payne was moved to write his masterpiece Rights of Man in response.
0:37.8	But Burke wasn't always so hostile to revolutionaries.
0:40.3	When violence broke out in Britain's North American colonies in the 1760s,
0:44.0	Burke spoke in Parliament in support of the colonists in their struggle against British rule.
0:49.0	One of the finest orators of his age, Burke was also a distinguished writer and philosopher. His ideas helped
0:54.8	shape the future direction of British politics and they've deeply influenced thinkers up to the
0:59.0	present day. With me to discuss the life and work of Edmund Burke are Karen O'Brien, Professor of English at the University of Warwick,
1:06.0	Richard Burke, Senior Lecturer in the History at Queen Mary University of London,
1:10.0	and John Keene recently appointed professor of politics at the University of
1:14.2	Sydney.
1:15.2	Karen Abran, the major events of Berkshire took place in London but he was born in
1:18.6	Dublin about 1730. Can you tell us something about his background and upbringing?
1:22.4	Yes he was born into a Can you tell us something about his background and upbringing?
1:23.0	Yes, he was born into a reasonably prosperous family.
1:26.4	His father was a practicing lawyer in Dublin and a Protestant.
	...

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