"Conservative" Liberty

Edmund Burke(1729-1797),a famous Whig politician and thinker in England,was the founder of modern western conservatism.The core of Burke's thought lies in the pursuit of "freedom".Its main content is a series of freedom rights enjoyed by citizens in society,such as the right to express political opinions,the freedom of personal property and the freedom of religious belief.However,Burke's understanding of "freedom" has distinct conservatism,which is mainly reflected in the following aspects: first,based on the philosophy of empirical rationality,reflecting on the limits of rational ability and promoting the role of experience,denying the construction of "free society" under the guidance of pure rationalism;Secondly,it criticizes the isolated,universal and abstract concept of freedom derived from natural human rights and social contract theory in the French Revolution,and points out that human society is an organism with historical continuity,and freedom is a kind of social freedom that evolves in history and is formed in practice through equal restrictions on social members.Third,Burke advocates a kind of limited freedom,which is embodied in the fact that freedom takes historical tradition as longitude and order morality as latitude and restricts freedom in an orderly environment.Freedom is a heritage inherited from tradition.Its realization must be combined with order and morality.The lack of moral restraint and order guarantee will inevitably lead to freedom turning into chaos.Fourth,Burke opposes violent revolution,thinks that revolution will destroy the continuity of social organism and history and destroy the foundation of freedom,and advocates gradual improvement instead.Burke's "conservative" interpretation of freedom is an organic integration between the spirit of freedom and the conservative tendency.In theory,Burke has reached a dynamic balance between the pursuit of freedom and the preservation of order.In the era of revolution,Burke has effectively suppressed the radical tendency of liberalism and laid a solid foundation for the formation and development of conservatism.Although his understanding of modern values such as equality and democracy failed to follow the historical trend,and his attitude towards revolution was biased,it is undoubtedly helpful to understand the essence and basic principles of conservatism by interpreting Burke's freedom view,which is conducive to insight into the powerful instrumental values of conservatism in social orientation,order maintenance and other aspects,and to avoid falling into the erroneous understanding of conservatism in the theory of negative conservatism.