The significance of Burke's Aesthetic theory on his political thought
The significance of Burke's Aesthetic theory on his political thought
Burke's aesthetic theory is crucial to an understanding of his politics. It links Natural Law to the empirical through sentiment and it is Burke's most important contribution to political philosophy. It is fully developed in "Reflections" and constitutes an attack on modernity. However, it is not without its philosophical problems. First, is the problem of assessing Burke's truth claims : what is the link between universal truth, aesthetics, sentiment and prudence? Are Paine and Wollstonecraft right to dismiss Burke as ideological? Is his notion of (Providence) useful and how does it link the particular and universal without becoming dualistic? How can his re-assertion of a pre-modern tradition offer insights into the facts of modernity? Exactly which prescriptive tradition are we to follow and what is his notion of history? How is social hierarchy consistent with rights and freedom and how can we rescue him from the charge of elitism?
I explore some methodological problems and suggest that the tension between his empiricism and his metaphysical notion of Providence(and the attendant is/ought confusion) can be understood through the concept of empirical history as a theatre of aesthetic imagination on which to base an authentic history. This approach liberates Burke's concept of "property" from its problematic empirical base and sees it as a metaphor for a western cultural tradition, linked to circumstances, yet transcending them through the notion of answerability to an aesthetic and moral "realm". Some philosophical problems with the notion of a Grand Providential theory are explored.
In Part II, I analyze "Enquiry Concerning the Sublime and the Beautiful" and link Burke's aesthetics to the project of practical politics. Kant's criticism of empirical "bottom-heaviness" notwithstanding - I show that Burke posits a supersensible aesthetic realm connected to interested feelings/sentiments of the sublime and the beautiful, contrasting him with Kant.
University of Southampton
1998
Merry, Samuel
(1998)
The significance of Burke's Aesthetic theory on his political thought.
University of Southampton, Doctoral Thesis.
Record type:
Thesis
(Doctoral)
Abstract
Burke's aesthetic theory is crucial to an understanding of his politics. It links Natural Law to the empirical through sentiment and it is Burke's most important contribution to political philosophy. It is fully developed in "Reflections" and constitutes an attack on modernity. However, it is not without its philosophical problems. First, is the problem of assessing Burke's truth claims : what is the link between universal truth, aesthetics, sentiment and prudence? Are Paine and Wollstonecraft right to dismiss Burke as ideological? Is his notion of (Providence) useful and how does it link the particular and universal without becoming dualistic? How can his re-assertion of a pre-modern tradition offer insights into the facts of modernity? Exactly which prescriptive tradition are we to follow and what is his notion of history? How is social hierarchy consistent with rights and freedom and how can we rescue him from the charge of elitism?
I explore some methodological problems and suggest that the tension between his empiricism and his metaphysical notion of Providence(and the attendant is/ought confusion) can be understood through the concept of empirical history as a theatre of aesthetic imagination on which to base an authentic history. This approach liberates Burke's concept of "property" from its problematic empirical base and sees it as a metaphor for a western cultural tradition, linked to circumstances, yet transcending them through the notion of answerability to an aesthetic and moral "realm". Some philosophical problems with the notion of a Grand Providential theory are explored.
In Part II, I analyze "Enquiry Concerning the Sublime and the Beautiful" and link Burke's aesthetics to the project of practical politics. Kant's criticism of empirical "bottom-heaviness" notwithstanding - I show that Burke posits a supersensible aesthetic realm connected to interested feelings/sentiments of the sublime and the beautiful, contrasting him with Kant.
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Published date: 1998
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Local EPrints ID: 463258
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/463258
PURE UUID: c79f7ea5-dec1-45cd-9ee4-4815a4655b65
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Last modified: 04 Jul 2022 20:48
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Author:
Samuel Merry
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