Catharine Macaulay and Edmund Burke

Reconsidering Political Thinkers, Manjeet Ramgotra and Simon Choat (eds.), Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2023.

21 Pages Posted: 8 Feb 2023

See all articles by Alan Coffee

Alan Coffee

King's College London - The Dickson Poon School of Law; King's College London

Date Written: June 5, 2021

Abstract

This chapter examines the rival and contrasting political philosophies of Catharine Macaulay and Edmund Burke. The two were almost exact contemporaries in the eighteenth centuries and clashed on their understandings of the fundamental nature of political society and the correct the approach to take on reform. Macaulay and Burke were opposites in many ways. As a woman, Macaulay was a political outsider while Burke was a successful politician. Macaulay was a radical and revolutionary republican who based her ideas on a few clear, immutable philosophical truths, while Burke was a cautious and conservative thinker who valued stability and continuity, appealing to tradition rather than speculative principle. In the first section, I introduce Macaulay’s philosophy based around the core ideal of freedom as independence from arbitrary control. In the second, I present Burke’s contrasting organic, contextual and pragmatic approach. Finally, I consider some of the weaknesses in each philosopher’s work, particularly from the perspective of securing the equal citizenship rights of women and the members of minority social groups.

Keywords: Catharine Macaulay, Edmund Burke, Republicanism

Suggested Citation

Coffee, Alan, Catharine Macaulay and Edmund Burke (June 5, 2021). Reconsidering Political Thinkers, Manjeet Ramgotra and Simon Choat (eds.), Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2023., Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4348751 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4348751

Alan Coffee (Contact Author)

King's College London - The Dickson Poon School of Law ( email )

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London, WC2R 2LS
United Kingdom

HOME PAGE: http://www.alancoffee.com

King's College London ( email )

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London, England WC2R 2LS
United Kingdom

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