Political
Philosophy Part 1. Week 8. Summary.
Links:
Burke and Paine Notes
Edmund
Burke 1729 – 1797.
MP
in 1765 (Whigs)
Opposed
the French Revolution (1789) but supported the Americans in their demand for
independence from
Represents
conservatism
In
1790 he wrote Reflections on the
Revolution in
Burke’s
Ideas:
-
he believed the American revolution to be justified in order to regain or “restore” something lost:
they were being taxed but had no votes, so had lost their citizenship rights,
but opposed the French Revolution because:
-
it sought the overthrow of a long-established government of a type that was
widespread
-
“natural rights” were dangerous, as
they could be taken to extremes by anyone; they were too “abstract”
-
collective experience builds up tradition
and we know what “works” because of this
-
the art of establishing the constitution
of a state is complex and intricate, and requires “delicate complicated
skill” and deep knowledge of human nature etc
-
change should be ‘piecemeal’ and
gradual, not sudden and radical
-
an organic model of society: all the
parts in society are inter-dependent, and play their natural roles.
-
“natural” to feel awe at monarchs, “reverence to priests” etc
-
ordinary citizens are fallible, or
ignorant; each has only a little reason and cannot envisage the whole of
society
-
advocated ‘prejudice’ (pre-judging
in the light of experience)
-
our “natural” condition is dependency and the need for security and leadership. Our “natural rights”, he argued,
are derived from society
-
identified “concrete” rights,
derived from society and experience, to:
justice (though he didn’t define this); the fruits of one’s industry
(and though we all have equal freedom, that doesn’t mean equal entitlement);
continuity and inheritance; education and religion (and he believed that
religion was the most useful and powerful guide to how to run society)
-
only those who have experience and background are able to govern – i.e. the
“aristocracy”
-
believed good order was the most
important social goal, people should be ‘tractable and obedient’, government should ‘constrain the passions’
of the people
-
for a ‘balance of powers’ in
government.
Tom
Paine 1737 – 1809.
Customs
officer, councillor (
In
To
Represents
radical liberalism
Paine’s
Ideas:
- “Common sense” is a fundamental
attribute of human psychology. It is the ability to know whatever is
spontaneously knowable. Also: the way the mind understands what the heart feels
(combining feeling, moral intuition, and reason?).
-
“… reason (freed from impostures of
tradition and absurdities of religion) could easily apprehend the natural laws of society and government.”
-
the science of government is “of all things the least mysterious
and the most easy to understand”.
But it has been “enveloped... [with] mystery, for the purpose of enslaving
plundering and imposing upon mankind”. “By the simple operation of constructing
government on the principles of society and the rights of man, every difficulty retires.”
-
“society is produced by our wants, and
government by our wickedness.”
-
Government is a necessary evil – it should serve to do only the few things that
people cannot do for themselves
-
we all have a natural love of liberty,
and “inextinguishable feelings to do good, and the right to reason for
ourselves.” Therefore we all have natural rights to “act for our own
comfort and happiness”
-
The rights of man comprise both
natural rights and civil rights: the latter are acquired as a
result of being a member of society,
where our individual power is not enough to ensure our own rights. Rights are,
“by reciprocity” duties: “Whatever
is my right as a man is also the right of another; and it becomes my duty to
guarantee as well as to possess.”
- “Sovereignty
as a matter of right, appertains to the nation only, and not to any
individual.”
-
A social contract can only bind the
generation that agreed to it. It cannot “govern beyond the grave”…“Every
age and generation must be as free to act for itself, in all cases, as the age
and generation which preceded it. The vanity and presumption of governing
beyond the grave, is the most ridiculous and insolent of tyrants.”
-
So, hereditary monarchy is not natural:
“all hereditary government is in its nature tyranny”…“Monarchy is popery of
government; a thing kept to amuse the ignorant, and quiet them into paying
taxes.”
-
“…a nation has at all times an inherent and indefeasible right to abolish any form of government it finds inconvenient, and
establish such as accords with its interests, disposition and happiness.”
–
“man is not the enemy of man, but
through the medium of a false system of government.”
-
Without war there would be less poverty, and more money would be available for
such welfare provisions as: maternity
allowances, marriage grants, funeral grants, family allowances, unemployment
relief and pensions. (Rights of Man Part II, 1792).