The Political Economy of Edmund Burke: The Role of Property in His Thought

Francis Canavan

Published by Fordham University Press 1994

The Political Economy of Edmund Burke

The Role of Property in His Thought

Francis Canavan

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780823296514

Overview
Contents

About this book

In Edmund Burke: A Bibliography of Secondary Studies to 1982 Clara Gandy and Peter Stanlis write, "One of the large unanswered questions is how Burke's economic theory is related to his political theory, and whether they are complementary or contradictory." Canavan is the first to offer a book-length treatment of this question, and in so doing, he places the strength of his argument largely on primary sources rather than a patchwork of previous interpretations. Canavan aims to show that Burke's own emphasis was no on capitalistic laissez-fair economics, as has been assumen, but that his goals were primarily political and cultural. Namely, Burke sought the preservation and development of an aristocratic and Christian civilization supported economically by a leading class of landed property owners.

This study projects a new profile of Burke which challenges C.B. Macpherson's sketch of him as a bourgeois capitalist, or, as depicted by J.B. Plumb and Frank O'Gorman, as a hired philsopher of the Whig Oligarchy. Nor does Canavan's study present the philosopher as one who would "declare war on the poor," as Gertrude Himmelfarb charged in her The Idea of Poverty. Burke emerges from Canavan's treatment as a Whiug who admired paternalistic government by the rich and virtuous whom he felt would govern as trustees for the benefit of the whole people. Burke did not support the notion that property by monopolized by any one class in society, but wanted the wealthy to empower intermediary institutions which would hold in check the control of the expansive state, whether that meant the Crown in Britain or the revolutionary state in France.

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Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Preface Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Short Titles, Primary Sources Publicly Available Download PDF	xiii
1. Burke's World Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
2. The Soul That Animated Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	24
3. The Stability of Property Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	47
4. Property and Government Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	70
5. True Whigs and True Whiggism Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	97
6. Burke's Economics Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	116
7. The French Revolution Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	147
Works Cited Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	177
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	181

Language: English
Publisher: Fordham University Press
Audience: College/higher education;
Pages
- Main content: 185

eBook

Published: December 6, 2021
ISBN: 9780823296514