Burke and the Birth of Enlightened Conservatism

You can find Reflections On The French Revolution here amzn.to/3QyJDIu
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Dr. Michael Sugrue earned his BA at the University of Chicago and PhD at Columbia University.

[@Yourworldwithin]

Blows my mind that lectures like this are available for free on the internet. Grateful 🙏🏼

[@TsarOfRuss]

imagine running into this guy in a bar and trying to pull up a philosophical argument with him

[@exemplarinstructor]

Imagine living in a society that attempted to make our collective wisdom universally accessible. What does it say about us that we make such valuable information and perspective often behind a pay wall?

[@blairhakamies4132]

So right you are🌹

[@The.Nasty.]

@@exemplarinstructor pretty sure you can find the majority of philosophers and politicians mentioned in the these lectures in any well funded public library worth its salt… that’s my society anyway. Plus, it’s here on KZbin unmolested. What society are you specifically talking about?

[@dekuscrub4330]

I am a software developer. In my first job, we had a lot of very old code. If you changed it, something would break and a customer would get upset, even if you didn't think anyone was using the piece that you broke, or if you did not know that there was something dependent on it. I became very careful about changing things. I would try to be as specific as possible, and only make larger changes after doing a complete audit of the code pipeline. Around the same time, I learned that modern humans have been around for like 200k years longer than civilization, and this made me realize that civilization can't be taken for granted any more than my old code base. I didn't realize until today that I had stumbled upon Burkean Conservatism. Thanks Doc

[@AugustusBohn0]

I wish user experience designers were Burkean Conservatives, UI elements in most applications don't need to be shuffled around as often as they are in most cases.

[@gridcaster]

It isn't just Burke...it is real conservatism vs. reactionaryism. Today in America, if you aren't a radical progressive folks accuse you of being a reactionary. Real conservatism is much more politically appealing than most Americans are at first led to believe by the left.

[@SpeedfreakUK]

To be fair, if your code is that bad you need the code equivalent of a violent revolution.

[@timeWaster76]

Yeah I've known that situation. The trick is to make one change at a time so you can tell what broke it... or on the other hand fixed it. On the bright side when software crashes, generally, it is not a millions deaths later you realize it was wrong.

[@pearz420]

@@AugustusBohn0 That's so dev teams can justify their departmental budget. Silicon Valley has been chasing their tails for over a decade now hoping no one else will notice.

[@danielmotamedi8048]

I am so glad you have a channel. I am rewatching your lecture on Marcus Aurelius for the millionth time. Been searching for years for more of your lectures, and even contacted the Great Courses. Thank you for the videos and can't wait until I am through them all.

[@synapsiddigital6251]

The same for me, Dr. Sugrue's lecture on Marcus Aurelius came at an important turning point in my life, I hope it's preserved for many more generations along with these videos he's sharing now. This channel is the only place I can find these precious teachings.

[@tdesq.2463]

Yes. The Marcus Aurelius lecture is off the charts. Phenomenal! And so is this presentation on Burke. Sounds like a remarkably intelligent policy maker. Sensible. Big part of real world application.

[@tannercoggins8793]

I get the sense at the end of the lecture that Sugrue wanted to convey his closing remarks without a sense of enthusiasm because that's how a lecture on Burke must be closed.

[@jakealden2517]

And I paid thousands of dollars to go to college when all I had to do was listen to this professor!

[@cheri238]

I never went to college. What for? I just wanted to learn, so I read and grew.💯

[@thoughtsonphilosophy4903]

Hooray! Mr. Sugrue, we love you and we are so grateful for your videos. Thank you so much.

[@jonbaker2102]

pure gold from Dr Sugrue- these lectures should be taught at all our educational institutions-truly a national treasure-thank you sir!

[@cheri238]

Absolutely 💯

[@MegaFount]

Superlatives lecture! I definitely count myself in the Burke school of proceeding with caution. As we witness in present day America, the abandonment of prudence leads to murder and mayhem and the abyss.

[@PiperDowns]

I see how every one of these lectures ties right into the present. It’s as if Professor Sugrue saw the present situation we’re in coming or at least it was one possible outcome. I love how objective that makes these lectures. It’s absolutely beautiful work and akin to any art I’ve ever seen. He’s so well spoken and let’s the points make themselves. I started with meditations

[@johnmckeown4931]

As I listen to this lecture and as someone who is a native of Northern Ireland in 2021 I can't help thinking in the words of Bob Dylan,' how many times must a man look up before he can see the sky'. That might be fact we can be sure of human nature never changes!

[@bodynutrition201]

Sugrue- post ALL of your Nietzsche lectures please. They are the BOMB!!! No one else comes close to mapping the same connections in such an engaging way. Idk what TTC did these days but these old stuffs are amazing

[@samirsalesi3453]

As a student of political sciences in Italy, I cannot thank you enough for all these videos you uploaded. They helped me a great deal to more easily understand certain topics, but also and most importantly they gave me a more diverse and complete picture of philosophy as a whole. Infact your videos made me aware of how many great great thinkers aren't even mentioned in the texts we study on. Also, and here's a personal note, for many many years I felt frustrated studying anything that even remotely had to do with philosophy and now I know why: I live in Italy, therefore the predominant thinking is the rationalistic continental german-like thinking! Thank you again from the heart!

[@temurlane35]

Professor Sugrue is a gem. Wish I knew about him much earlier..

[@ericslusarz]

Thank you!! I have something to look forward to tomorrow! Cheers!

[@andytaylor2737]

Please dear professor, if you could put your uploads into playlists we’d strongly appreciate it. The sequence is very important in your lectures. Thanks 😊 much gratitude 🙏🏼

[@jameslovell5721]

These lectures are unbelievable.

[@joni1405]

This is the best academic channel on youtube

[@Khumzalet]

Thanks Michael❤️💯✨

[@thomasdequincey5811]

Burke DOES predict the terror. That's what makes the 'Reflections on the Revolution in France' so powerful.

[@markbuckingham649]

I would like to strongly echo what a previous comment has stated: it would be fantastic to see a play list on this channel. All these videos are very much appreciated, thank you!

[@cheri238]

When I come back to another life, I want to be Professor Sugre. Happy New Year 2023👏👏🤣

[@gracejh33]

Best lecturers I’ve watched for years on KZbin! So well organised, engaging and informative, also exciting. Suit all who want to know about philosophical history or history of ideas! I’m very thankful.

[@aperipatetic2827]

I love your videos Professor!!!

[@dannydxm]

Amazing! Thank you professor!

[@michaelspero2449]

This lecture series is saving my life

[@christinemartin63]

Burke--a man after my own heart. A WISE man who lives in THIS world. Terrific! This lecture was worth all the others about the modern "philosophers." Nice job, Professor.

[@ryans3001]

Thank You!

[@ambassadorkwan8182]

Superb

[@patrickliu822]

Great lecture sir!

[@JosephusAurelius]

Fantastic lecture, thank you

[@denverschooloftheartsorche9702]

Looking forward to the aesthetics lectures in your excellent series!

[@cheri238]

The very best👌💯

[@vafkamat]

good video - changed my ideas about Burke

[@fayyaznoor1962]

Excellent lecture

[@aodhfinn]

Tried and tested conservatism hasn't been lost for the sake of change itself , but because the question of what we humans really want hasn't been given time to be asked .We may still hope that day will come without a disaster forcing the moment.

[@zxsw85]

Thank you from the bottom of my soul for this. This professor has an ability to distinguish between great historical minds to an extent not found in a ur age. Thank you for sharing

[@alancho4578]

ya ya I see that most replayed, gotta rewatch this.

[@ifgwelf]

The Cartesian joke about the guillotine was really good haha

[@cheri238]

Wasn't it? Lol💯

[@patrickskramstad1485]

"Does history guide you, or do you set out to change it?"

[@johnshaplin]

"Empire and Revolution; The Political Life of Edmund Burke" by Richard Bourke: "By "Society" Burke meant civil society, and he was signaling his belief that the state was founded on reciprocal obligations. These were neither as arbitrary nor as perishable as the contingent interests that were served by ordinary agreements in business or trade. The national interest was rather an enduring interest that bound one generation to the next. The personality of the state was a product of human artifice and could not be reduced to its transitory parts. Equally, its objectives were not exhausted by the mere "animal existence" of the individuals who composed it. Since civil society was enjoined by divinity ['Providentially'] as a mechanism for realizing human ends, it was a means of advancing towards the perfection of science, art and virtue. This did not mean, in neo-Aristotelian fashion, that it was the state's purpose to realize the perfection of human nature, but that, in protecting society, and thus religion too, it facilitated the objective of mental and moral improvement. In combining their aptitudes for that purpose, citizens were subject to the obedience while sovereigns were bound by the obligation to protect. Accountability, in both directions, were fixed by a law of nature. Burke dubbed this "the great primaeval contract of eternal society". It implied the subjection of nature to divine will (which Burke saw less as a burden than a consolation). It was on the basis of this subjection that the responsibility of human conscience to a higher law was commanded."

[@cheri238]

Help us all. 🙏 lol, I need a lollipop 🍭 😋

[@ipeteagles]

a university education from the comfort of a residential dwelling. thank you

[@Rico-Suave_]

Great video, thank you, note to self(nts) watched all of it 42:52

[@literature1621]

Dear Dr. Sugrue: I have just found out that there is @POSSIBLY@ another lecture missin' from the catalogue. The lecture belongs to your 1998 course @Great Minds of the Western Intellectual Tradition, 2nd Edition: Part 2 lecture 11: Pascal's Pensees.. I said 'possibly' since you had already presented a talk back in '93 (Great Authors) under the same title and I thought you may have INCORPORATED that lecture to the '98 course. You have already mixed some from '92 Great Minds (1st Ed.) with '98 Great Minds (2nd Ed.)

[@tomasroque3338]

20:00 Ironically, English Empiricists tended to be political radicals, whereas Continental Rationalists tended to be political reactionaries.

[@colleencupido5125]

I cannot understand why Professor Sugrue is coming down so hard on Edmund Burke. His comment that Burke's book on France was some English Overview of the French Revolution is a distortions- Burke's book was published in 1790- only one year after the storming of the Bastille. The Reign of Terror was two years later and lasted for two years- Burke predicted it before it happened. In 1790 his book met with critical attack universally- from Paine to Pitt. The French Revolution was the first War of Ideology- and s bloodbath with homicidal maniacs in control. Ideological wars made up most of the 20th Century

[@publiusscipio6020]

Very good point. I was thinking the same thing that I believed Burke wrote before the Terror, and this made his work so much more prescient. Not taking away from the lecture, but it makes me wonder what else he is getting wrong about Burke.

[@leotolstoy2261]

That is a distortion not professor's

[@aqibjavaid5291]

Check also Russel Kirk's work on Edmund Burke.

[@mattabraham3549]

There are some discussions where one second you are on the side of one faction, and in the next you’re rooting for the other. This one has it in spades…..

[@davidfost5777]

I'm always looking for new interesting lectures on Psychology/Philosophy, please let me know if you guys have any recommendations, would be highly appreciated

[@zwelthureinmyo3747]

I m not quite sure U'll get notified of my reply,but whatever I m tempted to recommend the lecture series of "Raymond Geuss" on Marx n Nietzsche, the most enthusiastic, yet immensely erudite lectures.Also, Paul Bloom psychology courses r such a great treat.

[@realskepticalstoic9704]

Great lecture. Is there a lecture on Thomas Paine?

[@cheri238]

GO THOMAS PAINE 👏

[@bewimotos]

anyone knows the name song of the openning of the video?

[@cheri238]

Which one? Lol ☃️ 🎄 😆 🤣

[@edwardb7811]

Prudence.

[@LetsFindOut1]

22:20 Rationalists or more inclined to inside revolution because empiricists Or more solitary to what has already been and therefore skeptical of decisive departures from tradition and history

[@leebarry5686]

Revolution sometimes is unavoidable for the despot doesn’t want to give up his power and interest and usually persecutes people who ask for reform and power sharing

[@ErkIsEpic]

If Burke was a skeptical empiricist, would he not also be skeptical of the history he is relying on to determine what has worked in the past? It seems like this speaker is trying to adopt Hume into a conservative philosophical tradition, but that seems like a bold statement. I'm having a tough time squaring it.

[@billhicks8]

Burke just was a conservative though. He always argued from the Whig (or perhaps "Red Tory") position of prudential, but consistent progressive advancement. Don't mistake his history for his more radical theoretical views on human consciousness and creativity. On his approach to skepticism, remember that empiricism is the method by which theory is tested in practice; it is enough to say that there are examples from recorded history where a number of experiencing subjects who lived through certain events under particular political conditions give the skeptic the most accurate they could hope for of the results of a chosen set of political outcomes. That is the bar Hume wants to hold political reform to, rather than the interpretation of history being unable to meet it outright, which would make his skepticism unassailable to the point of worthlessness

[@thattimestampguy]

Practical influential politician Theory Vs Practice What works in Practice Under a democratic legislature 1:58 Romantic Reaction Alleviate Ireland Oppression 3:02 If it doesn’t work in Practice, it is a theory that does not work Anti-French Revolution Political Order Empiricism 5:37 Anti-Utopian “At least this works.” “Politics is the art of the possible.” Change is risky Well considered reform lowers chance of revolution, can avoid it. 7:58 American Englishmen Common Sense Conservatism Gradual, Balanced, Reversable 10:42 Ireland Political Theory 11:28 _Reflections of The Revolution in France_ What works > What we would like 13:53 Radical Democratic Poetry is impractical 14:51 The Guillotine 16:15 Total Change is TOO MUCH TOO FAST 18:04 16:47 People are creatures of sentiment Oppression > Terror Risk-Minimize 21:20 Skepticism Regulate Innovation

[@JARBOOGIE2]

Our civilization is falling apart thanks to the very ideas and theories that Edmund Burke opposed. Maybe we have these institutions and cultural traditions for a reason.

[@acropolisnow9466]

Well said.

[@billhicks8]

You really think we live in a constantly revolutionary society in modern times? Almost all the ideas politicians talk about are a return to the past, what do you want to return? Feudalism?

[@onemanarmy2electricboogalo687]

​@@billhicks8nice strawman argument

[@alexanderpeca7080]

I can connect Burke with Karl Popper, even with Jordan Peterson, but I cannot trace back his practical and progressive framing to anyone in the Hellenistic Period (save Pyrrho, and very superficially so). Does anyone here know the Hellenistic precursor of Burke?

[@dr.michaelsugrue]

Dad said, unmask the question. Burkean conservatism with its tentative gradualism and prudent regard for cultural inertia is a response to Enlightenment political revolutions (like the English and French but not the American), that are saturated in pseudo-secularized Christian apocalypticism. Christianity is the source of the idea of progress through linear time (Augustine), which supplanted the Greco-Roman circular time of Thucydides and Polybius. The various rebellions and civil wars and uprisings of prechristian antiquity were local and personal, (even Spartacus' slave rebellion). These opportunistic renegades did not intend to end both original sin and the corrupt world it had spawned, as both Cromwell and Robespierre did after Christianity got added to the Western tradition. There aren't any Hellenistic Burkeans because there weren't any Hellenistic sans-culottes to attempt to delegitimize all prior regimes and begin anew with a new Year 1, like the Jacobins. Mob violence erupted intermittently in the Greco-Roman world but ancient ochlocracy never pretended to be the moral vanguard of ultimate political transcendence, as ancient intellectuals had not supplied such tendentious little Catalines with an exculpatory vocabulary for murder, rape, arson, assault, theft, vandalism, threats and intimidation.

[@alexanderpeca7080]

@@dr.michaelsugrue Thank you very much indeed for such good academic answer, and that you took generously your time to type it. ** Off topic: it would be enormously appreciated if you put the - at least approximate- dates of these lectures. I assume mid 90s, early 2000s? ** Also thanks for putting the high quality education that your dad offered dad in YT.

[@alexanderpeca7080]

@@dr.michaelsugrue BTW, my question was based in my - more or less - educated generalizing assumption that most of the big ideas were more or less articulated by the Greeks. You just credibly showed me, my assumption was wrong. *** "The safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato. I do not mean the systematic scheme of thought which scholars have doubtfully extracted from his writings." (A. Whitehead).

[@pearz420]

"In some ways, the guillotine is the logical outcome of rationalism."

[@cheri238]

Perfect 🥰

[@godsstrength7129]

Gotta correct you Michael. Slavery was abolished very slowly in the United States. There was disputes over slavery from the beginning of Americas formation and the only way the southern states would join the United States is if they kept slavery. For decades the north and south were a 50/50 split of free states and slave states where there was an agreement that if one part got another state the other could have another state so that there wasn’t war or domination over the other half of the country. This mean they had to accept being part of the same country with different views on slavery for many years until people started realizing slavery was immoral and unnecessary. This is when finally they had no choice but to abolish slavery. If there was a dispute from the beginning there probably wouldn’t be any United States and the south would have many their own Nation that might’ve put the colonies at risk of domination by the English.

[@attackman4458]

Hume is one impressive guy.... ohh I meant Burke. Freudian slip 101.

[@pinosantilli3371]

Lot's of problems! Because of Ideas. But do they work?

[@lazaromarinrosasr]

23:44

[@Hwaigon]

Check out guys also Frederick Schlegel.

[@vl8962]

"Conservatism is Progressivism driving the speed limit" - Michael Malice

[@TinMMA]

That sounds a lot more like modern American Republicanism than Burkean Conservativism.

[@nanashi7779]

All mainstream post-Enlightenment political philosophy shares the same presuppositions, mere illusion of diversity

[@tomcotter4299]

Do you think our deification of individual politicians is an unconscious attempt by the polity to return to a religiously ordered form of politics?

[@pinosantilli3371]

Look at what is happening in the USA today? Any similarities to what you are talking about now?

[@cheri238]

WHY OF COURSE!!!!! BRAVO 👏

[@drbonesshow1]

The only positive thing Prohibition did was create a TV show called The Untouchables.

[@cheri238]

What? Lol 🔥

[@drbonesshow1]

@@cheri238 Look it up.

[@cheri238]

@@drbonesshow1 MAKES SENSE TO ME

[@benquinneyiii7941]

How are you going to pay for it?

[@philipcorr8225]

But there were a number of civil wars in England

[@dr.michaelsugrue]

A very good point, the English Revolution 1640-1660 was so horrific that the English worked very hard to avoid another descent into Hobbesian violence. The repeal of the Corn Laws and the Reform bills of 1832, 1867 and 1884 were wise and successful attempts to prevent revolution.

[@timeWaster76]

Sounds like the very definition of progress: Systematic, step wise, improvement. . He really saw Marx coming.

[@aaropajari7058]

He saw the French coming.

[@cheri238]

The French? Lol 🎆

[@adamstewart8712]

…

[@angusdesire]

Great stuff, but Hume was Scottish.

[@jam1087]

End slavery and put women to work so they can all pay taxes. Enlightened and illuminated ideas

[@dr.michaelsugrue]

This is to thinking what a bunt is to baseball.

[@jam1087]

He wasn't called out before he reached base though

[@ericanderson7346]

Great lecture but his tongue clicking is worse than NPR

[@blurredlenzpictures3251]

The Guillotine is a very Cartesian thing. Because it separates the mind and body so completely. Dr Sugrue is the best!!! Thank you again, Professor! RIP great thinker. ❤