Edmund Burke was born in Ireland of a Catholic mother and a Protestant father. Following studies in the classics at Trinity College, Dublin, he moved to London where he spent the rest of his life as a writer and statesman. Burke's most famous work is his Reflections on the Revolution in France. While he was sympathetic to the colonists in the American Revolution, Burke considered the French Revolution to be against both human nature and history. As seen in the selection below, Burke argues that individual persons are not constitutional abstractions endowed with some kind of natural rights. Rather, persons are bound to historical traditions and customs. True rights (and duties) can only be understood in such an historical context. According to Burke, the French Revolution's attempt to sever this past and impose an abstract egalitarian future could only lead to violence and disregard for the good of real persons.

(Click here for our selection from Reflections on the Revolution in France.)