essay on "there is no place for ideology in present day politics"
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Edmund Burke is a philosopher who lived between the years 1729 and 1797. He defended Ireland society when they had been resisting of British domination, criticized British East India Company for demolishing Indian traditions and their historical privileges, also supported to American independence against Britannia. As taking into consideration, it seemed that Edmund Burke's thoughts are close to liberalism. However, he is known as a conservative thinker because of his opposite attitude to French Revolution. The reason of that attitude is his beliefs. According to Edmund Burke, making plans with destroying the values that belong to past is a mistake and when political community is forming, the alteration should be effectuated without corrupting the harmony of the current system. Considering of all these information, it can be mentioned that Edmund Burke is a liberal conservative thinker.
The concept of Conservatism defends esteeming traditional experiences, rising against radical social changes and believing that innovations must be gradually. It is also defined that it protects free enterprising and Capitalism and stresses the importance of moral discipline and social system based on election. That conservatism consideration was occurred against liberalism born with French revolution and one of the first proponents was Edmund Burke. Burke's analysis about The Age of Enlightenment and French Revolution has been found instructive for many conservative thinkers. With the Reflections on the French Revolution book, published at 1790, Burke criticized the thought of The Enlightenment and French Revolution which growth with The Age of Enlightenment and emphasized that events damage basic values such as religion, morality and family structure, which keep society together and precipitated terrorism and anarchy. Additionally Burke has described The Enlightenment as a movement that separates human mind. Another one of the important conservative philosopher is Joseph de Maistre who is the most brilliant and controversialist conservative thinker. Joseph de Maistre had always stayed in the service of the Church and Monarchy. Like Burke, he criticized The Enlightenment and The Revolution and defended the principle of hierarchical authority that Revolution wanted to destroy. Conservatism is considered as religiosity by many people in the world, but David Hume, one of the famous thinkers, is a model that represents difference between conservatism and religiosity. Although he believes Deism, for David Hume religion is one of the most important parts of human life and provides social integration. Current meaning of conservatism has made to reach with the arguments that these philosophers presents.