Edmund Burke

Edmund Burke was an author and a "classic political thinker" from England. His works ranged from historical writings to politics to philosophical pieces. Although he was not necessarily considered a prime "philosophe," his beliefs, ideas, and thoughts originated from philosophy.

Raised in Dublin, Edmond Burke was the son of a successful attorney and attended Trinity College (Dublin). Burke officially pursued a career in narrative works, although his work was greatly influenced by philosophy. He released early works such as A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful (1757), and A Vindication of Natural Society (1756). Burke wrote many others, yet he did have much of a social or political presence in a sense that he did not create a new way of thinking or had many followers. Overall, he mainly reinforced the ideas and concepts of conservatism, mainly avoiding introducing anything new or revolutionary. However, he wrote a political piece called Vindication of Natural Society, which introduced a society without civil government, church, and individual property. Although his genre technically falls under politics, this work is a prime example of his philosophical origins as a writer. Burke had always generally supported the Roman Catholic Church from an argumentative standpoint, but he had never been too fond of the Pope.

Burke maintains a fairly significant presence in modern history today, but he did not have the same presence in his time as a writer. His oratory was marginal and his arguments were not exactly delivered powerfully. However, his works are still an important today in the world of philosophy and political/historical writing.