Edmund Burke for Our Time: Moral Imagination, Meaning, and Politics

by William F. Byrne

Overview

This highly readable book offers a contemporary interpretation of the political thought of Edmund Burke, drawing on his experiences to illuminate and address fundamental questions of politics and society that are of particular interest today. In Edmund Burke for Our Time, Byrne asserts that Burke's politics is reflective of unique and sophisticated ideas about how people think and learn and about determinants of political behavior.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781501755224
Publisher:	Cornell University Press
Publication date:	08/15/2021
Pages:	238
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.69(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

William F. Byrne is Associate Professor of Government and Politics at St. John's University in New York.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction 3

1 The "Burkean" Outlook and the Problem of Reality 15

2 Aesthetics, Ethics, and Politics 41

3 Reason, Emotion, Knowledge, and Morality 66

4 Characteristics of a Moral Imagination 94

5 Moral Imagination and Public Policy 117

6 Burke and the Good 154

Conclusion: Politics, the Moral Imagination, and Burke 180

Notes 199

Bibliography 215

Index 221

What People are Saying About This

Michael P. Federici

By focusing on Burke's imagination, Byrne illuminates the core of Burke's political theory, his intuitive conception of life. What is especially remarkable about the book is that it analyzes a complex topic in lucid prose and relates Burke's ideas to contemporary political and social life. Consequently, Byrne has provided an analysis of Burke that is both weighty enough for the expert and acessible to general readers.

Ian Crowe

This is a timely and provocative contribution, not only to Burke studies, but to contemporary political thought and recent intellectual history in the United States.

Bruce Frohnen

There is much insight in this book regarding the role of history and habit in shaping individuals, groups, and societies, and especially the distinction between casuistry and character development in Burke's thought. These points make this study stand out from the pragmatic readings of Burke, which make him seem un- or even anti-philosophical, as well as the more strict natural law reading.

Joseph Pappin

Byrne has tackled a much-needed area of Edmund Burke's thought, namely, the "moral imagination." He has, to my mind, successfully explored, from several vantage points, almost every conceivable aspect of Burke's use of and reference to the imagination, both moral and otherwise. In doing so, he takes scholarship to a neglected area of Burke's thought with considerable implications for subsequent interpretations of his political philosophy and thought.

Editorial Reviews

Byrne's prose is highly readable, and his reading of Burke both plausible and illuminating.

-- "National Review"

From the Publisher

Byrne's prose is highly readable, and his reading of Burke both plausible and illuminating.

National Review