000			02096aam a2200217 4500
999			_c394621 _d394621
008			180329b2017 ||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d
020			_a9781912127931
082			_a944.04 _bQ8R3
100			_aQuinn, Riley _9361586
245			_aReflections on the revolution in France
260			_bRoutledge _c2017 _aLondon
300			_a93 p.
440			_aMacat library critical thinking series _9361489
520			_aEdmund Burke’s 1791 Reflections on the Revolution in France is a strong example of how the thinking skills of analysis and reasoning can support even the most rhetorical of arguments. Often cited as the foundational work of modern conservative political thought, Burke’s Reflections is a sustained argument against the French Revolution. Though Burke is in many ways not interested in rational close analysis of the arguments in favour of the revolution, he points out a crucial flaw in revolutionary thought, upon which he builds his argument. For Burke, that flaw was the sheer threat that revolution poses to life, property and society. Sceptical about the utopian urge to utterly reconstruct society in line with rational principles, Burke argued strongly for conservative progress: a continual slow refinement of government and political theory, which could move forward without completely overturning the old structures of state and society. Old state institutions, he reasoned, might not be perfect, but they work well enough to keep things ticking along. Any change made to improve them, therefore, should be slow, not revolutionary. While Burke’s arguments are deliberately not reasoned in the ‘rational’ style of those who supported the revolution, they show persuasive reasoning at its very best. https://www.routledge.com/Reflections-on-the-Revolution-in-France/Quinn/p/book/9781912127931
650			_aCriticism - Critical thinking skills
650			_aEdmund Burke
650			_aPolitics & International Relations
650			_aFrance - revolution
650			_aPublic opinion - British
942			_2ddc _cBK