Edmund Burke

“Presenting the Unrepresentable: Edmund Burke, Jean-Francois Lyotard, and the Postmodern Sublime in Contemporary Poetry”

by Julianne Buchsbaum

Published in Fulcrum: An Annual of Poetry and Aesthetics, Issue 7, Spring 2011, p. 429-440.

The sublime is what dismantles consciousness, what deposes consciousness, it is what consciousness cannot formulate,... more The sublime is what dismantles consciousness, what deposes consciousness, it is what consciousness cannot formulate, and even what consciousness forgets in order to constitute itself. In sublime language, words annihilate themselves as words, so that the essential emptiness of signs can be revealed and come into being. The indeterminate, the "it happens," is the word, the string of words, the text, the sounds of the text. These qualities (like the qualities of paint in a visual artwork) are not expressible, and it is to this that the postmodern sublime has to witness.

Acts of Admiration: Wondrous Women in Early Modern Philosophy

by Michael Funk Deckard

This paper examines four sets of correspondence in the early modern tradition in order to bridge natural philosophy... more This paper examines four sets of correspondence in the early modern tradition in order to bridge natural philosophy and practical philosophy by means of the notion of admiration, which Descartes mentions in article 53 of Passions de l’âme as ‘the first of all the passions’. I will thus first look at the correspondence of Princess Elisabeth of Bohemia (1618-1680) and René Descartes (1596-1650) in which Elisabeth is a cause of wonder, and who herself inspires Descartes to understand passions better than he had before. Not only does she challenge his mind/body dualism, but she also attempts to instill an appreciation of the personal in philosophy. Wonder is thus not only physiological and passive, but also inspiring and active. Second, the correspondence of Henry More (1614-1687) and Viscountess Anne Conway (1631-1679) spell out further depths of friendship and love. In their interaction, the active life is as much about their care for each other, and Henry’s concern for Anne’s health in particular, as the philosophical content of their relationship. Third, the correspondence between John Norris (1657–1711) and Mary Astell (1668-1731) reveal the transition from abstract philosophy to practical philosophy and, in their interaction, the young wonder Astell teaches Norris about the importance of loving others. This is not a mere curiosity in the history of wonder, but a real and lasting relationship in which Astell inspires Norris to better himself. Lastly, Edmund Burke (1730–1797) and Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–1797) responded to each other regarding the political ‘act’ that was the French Revolution. Although fundamentally based on a misunderstanding, I will read their interaction as a missed opportunity for admiration and thus friendship.

Hodges- Final Essay, On Rhetorical Uses of History to Understand the Present

by Blair Hodges

"9/11 and Debates over Kitsch"

by C. E. Emmer

paper presented at the PCA/ACA National Conference 2012 in Boston on Thursday, April 12, during the 'Visual Culture and Modern/Postmodern Mediations' panel (3:00pm - 4:30pm), along with Alexandra Newman, who presented "'The Whole Idea Is to Deliver what Money Can't Buy': Bruce Springsteen's 'Born in the U.S.A.' as Object"

I will use an examination of ostensibly ‘kitschy” items inspired by the attacks of 9/11 to demonstrate that multiple... more I will use an examination of ostensibly ‘kitschy” items inspired by the attacks of 9/11 to demonstrate that multiple competing positions on the viability and meaning of “kitsch” are currently in play. I will focus primarily on two pieces of material culture: a small sculpture, Jenny Ryan’s ‘Soft 9/11,’ which represents the twin towers of the World Trade Center as an anthropomorphized plush-toy, and Dennis Madalone’s viral music video, ‘America We Stand as One,’ in which he reassures loved ones of those who died in 9/11 and the ensuing wars that the fallen are still there, ‘in a different way.’ I have chosen these 9/11-related items precisely for their ability to quickly reveal underlying assumptions connected to American mythology. Often academic treatments of ostensibly “kitschy” objects are criticized for having no empirical basis (in other words, these treatments are held to be figments of scholars’ imaginations); presently, however, many discussions which previously would have gone unrecorded are now preserved in blog entries and, perhaps more importantly, in their comment and discussion threads. I will use the evidence provided by these on-line discussions to show that, presently, many different, sometimes diametrically opposed, approaches to ostensibly “kitschy” items coexist and compete with one another. In addition, I hope to turn to the fundamental question of whether “kitsch” is a viable concept at all. For one may well grant that multiple stances on “kitsch” are in play without granting that all stances are legitimate.

Power and Development John Stuart Mill and

by Graham Finlay

'We Do Not Know from Where': Transcendence and Openness in Burke and Voegelin

by Steven P. Millies

Eric Voegelin and Edmund Burke both were thinkers as original as enigmatic. Each has devoted followers from varied... more Eric Voegelin and Edmund Burke both were thinkers as original as enigmatic. Each has devoted followers from varied academic backgrounds. Neither fits neatly into any category or camp.

Voegelin said that, “We all experience our own existence as not existing out of itself but as coming from somewhere, even if we do not know from where.” Transcendent intimations would gain little from believing we can account for them with certainty. The experience of transcendence requires an openness that will not measure the divine by any standard we can devise. Edmund Burke also expressed doubt at human competence in the face of “that great chain of causes, which linking one to another even to the throne of God himself, can never be unravelled [sic] by any industry of ours.” Such sentiments have tempted many readers to see Burke in sympathy with skepticism. Those efforts are complicated by Burke’s overt theism and several defenses of church establishment, which have tempted other readers to see Burke as an exponent of natural law. Instead, Burke’s appreciation of Providence and human finitude could embrace many revelatory traditions, presuming no hypostatic formulations that would exclude how transcendence manifested itself in various places and times.

These two quite different characters meet in their appreciation of a spiritual reality at work in politics and human existence. Comparing them has important limitations, their writings being quite different in purpose and context. Yet their willingness to engage religious mystery sets them apart among philosophers and political writers. To consider them together is to identify how the appreciation of mystery sets them apart, how it contributes to our understanding of political reality.

The Roleof the Sublime in the Political Thought of Edmund Burke

by Steven P. Millies

Joseph de Maistre: L'homme à contre-temps

by Lucas Bouchard

Exposé fait en troisième année portant sur la doctrine sociale de Joseph de Maistre.

Edmund Burke's Moral Traditionalism

by Markus Haller

From Bastille to Tahrir: An Examination of the 2011 Egyptian Revolution through the Thesis of Edmund Burke

by Daniel Brown

“Is she queer?”: Fanny Price’s Protest Against Sublime and Beautiful Heteronormativity

by Emily Snow

Burke's Classical Heritage: Playing games with Longinus

by Cressida Ryan

Review of Ted Honderich, Conservatism

by Kevin Magill

Scroll to p.43 in pdf. Published in Radical Philosophy, 59, Autumn 1991. Got it completely wrong in relation to where the Tory Party was headed vis-a-vis the EU, and a few other things. Reply by Honderich in RP 61 ('Conservatism, Ideology, Rationale, and a Red Light').

An essay concerning Burke's idea of the Sublime

by Thomas Heij

The second best known theoretical work of the Irish politician and philosopher Edmund Burke, 'A Philosophical Enquiry... more The second best known theoretical work of the Irish politician and philosopher Edmund Burke, 'A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of ou Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful' (1957), is overshadowed by Burke's political work. But although the 'Enquiry' is not Burke's magnum opus, it still is a very important work that deserves more attention than it gets these days, for several reasons.
In the first part of this paper we will examine Burke's Enquiry, focusing on his concept of the Sublime. In the second part I hope to point out some of the similarities between Burke's theory and William Turner's practical application of those rules, by studying some of his famous paintings.

Sublime Objects

by Tim Morton

Published in Speculations 2.

An essay about how Longinus' concept of the sublime is appropriate for thinking some aspects of causality according to... more An essay about how Longinus' concept of the sublime is appropriate for thinking some aspects of causality according to object-oriented ontology (OOO).

Eating Girls: Becoming-Animal and the Romantic Sublime in William Blake’s Lyca Poems

by Peter Heymans

Published in Humanimalia - a journal of human/animal interface studies (DePauw University); Volume 3, Number 1 - Fall 2011.

This article argues that Deleuze and Guattari’s concept of becoming-animal is aesthetically as well as structurally... more This article argues that Deleuze and Guattari’s concept of becoming-animal is aesthetically as well as structurally related to the discourse of the sublime. It investigates the species politics of both concepts and illustrates their ecocritical potential with an analysis of William Blake’s Lyca poems, “The Little Girl Lost” and “The Little Girl Found,” both published in his Songs of Innocence and of Experience (1794).

Read full article:
http://www.depauw.edu/humanimalia/issue%2005/pdfs/heymans%20pdf.pdf

Not A Partnership in Pepper, Coffee, Calico or Tobacco: Edmund Burke and the Vicissitudes of Colonial Capitalism

by Onur Ulas Ince

Polity, 44:3 (July 2012, forthcoming). Earlier drafts presented at American Political Science Association Conference (September 2011, Seattle, WA), and Harvard Graduate Conference in Political Theory (October 2011, Cambridge, MA).

In recent Burke scholarship, the contention over Burke’s political economic views has been eclipsed by the culturalist... more In recent Burke scholarship, the contention over Burke’s political economic views has been eclipsed by the culturalist arguments over his position on empire. Each debate is riven by a “Burke problem,” pitting the bourgeois-capitalist Burke against the conservative-precapitalist Burke, or trying to lodge him in the imperialist or the anti-imperialist camp. This essay maintains that integrating these frames of analysis and reading Burke as an intellectual grappling with eighteenth-century “colonial capitalism” can shed new light on the ambiguities in his thought. Burke’s labors against the East India Company, I argue, should be read as an attempt to fortify “commercial” principles, on which British self-image rested, against the “rapacious” policies of British imperialism in India. Thus conceived, Burke’s denunciation of the Company can be coded as an index to broader historical contradictions between the liberal self-image of capitalism and the coercive processes of colonial displacement and extraction that was an integral part of its emergence.

"The Flower and the Breaking Wheel: Burkean Beauty and Political Kitsch"

by C. E. Emmer

published in The International Journal of the Arts in Society 2:1 (2007): 153-164

What is kitsch? The varieties of phenomena which can fall under the name are bewildering. Here, I focus on what has... more What is kitsch? The varieties of phenomena which can fall under the name are bewildering. Here, I focus on what has been called “traditional kitsch,” and argue that it often turns on the emotional effect specifically captured by Edmund Burke’s concept of “beauty” from his 1757 'A Philosophical Enquiry into the Sublime and Beautiful.' Burkean beauty also serves to distinguish “traditional kitsch” from other phenomena also often called “kitsch”—namely, entertainment. Although I argue that Burkean beauty in domestic decoration allows for us to see “traditional kitsch” as resting on natural and even healthy impulses, I also argue that an all-too-common political function of traditional kitsch directs it to dangerous ends.

Burke's Reflections and the Natural Law: On Revolution

by Drew Alexander

Carl Schmitt's Vattel and the 'Law of Nations' between Enlightenment and Revolution

by Isaac Nakhimovsky

Grotiana 31 (2010): pp. 141-64

This article questions the status of Vattel’s Law of Nations as an exemplary illustration of eighteenth-century... more This article questions the status of Vattel’s Law of Nations as an exemplary illustration of eighteenth-century developments in the history of international law. Recent discussions of the relation between eighteenth-century thinking about the law of nations and the French Revolution have revived Carl Schmitt’s contention about the nexus between just war theory and the emergence of total war. This evaluative framework has been used to identify Vattel as a moral critic of absolutism who helped undermine the barriers against total war, as well as an architect and defender of those very barriers. Neither of these opposing readings is corroborated by late-eighteenth-century commentators on Vattel’s treatise. To its late-eighteenth-century critics and defenders alike, Vattel’s Law of Nations was distinguished by the weakness of its derivation of the law of nations from principles of natural law. Insofar as these readers did link Vattel to justifications of relatively unrestrained forms of warfare, they did so in connection with the perceived weakness of Vattel’s moral position rather than with its strength. This late-eighteenth-century consensus on the defining features of Vattel’s approach to the law of nations sits uncomfortably with Schmitt’s evaluative framework, and indeed with other assessments of Vattel that limit themselves to orienting his treatise along fault lines in the historiography of international law.