![]() ![]() ![]() Institutions grow through a lengthy process of adaptation, with moderate and careful amendments which require exceeding care, so that the spirit of the nation be preserved. People are tied by a “myriad of cords” to culture and tradition, and no mechanical philosophy that is the “offspring of cold hearts” can impart the same wholeness and harmony, the same ancient majesty that suffuses the heritage of their forefathers. For Burke, there are no abstract “universal” human beings, but only members of different societies whose spirit and sentiments are the product of a time and a place. While John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau sought to understand society on the basis of a “social contract,” a voluntary arrangement formulated in the light of reason, Burke maintained that every society evolves through a slow and complex process, under unique historical circumstances, and is therefore characterized by subtle tones and shades uniquely its own. As against the notion that society could be reinvented on the basis of rational principles and a universal concept of man, Burke presented an organic conception of societal development. Burke’s philosophical attack was directed not only against the French revolutionaries of his time, but also against their spiritual predecessors, the enlightened philosophes, and against the spirit of the Enlightenment itself. ![]()
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