Episode Details
Back to EpisodesEdmund Burke and the Moral Imagination
Description
đź’ Can feeling and imagination preserve what reason alone cannot? In this episode, Jack Thomson explores the political vision of Edmund Burke and the enduring power of moral imagination.
Through Reflections on the Revolution in France, Jack traces how Burke's suspicion of abstract reason shaped a distinctly conservative political imagination — and why that tension between feeling and reason still runs through debates about party and faction today.
🎧 In this episode:
-  Burke’s Reflections and the politics of moral imaginationÂ
- Â The defence of tradition against abstract rationalismÂ
- Â Society as a living inheritance rather than a constructed systemÂ
- Â The moral and emotional foundations of political orderÂ
This is part of our Heritage Series, tracing the evolution of conservative and traditionalist thought — from Plato and Augustine of Hippo to Joseph de Maistre and beyond — exploring how ideas shape the foundations of Western civilisation.
📚 Hosted by the History of Ideas Reading Club (University of Buckingham)
 🎙️ Produced by Beyond the Text: The Intellectual Historian’s Podcast
🎧 Available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts & all major platforms
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