On Taste, on the Sublime and Beautiful, Reflections on the French Revolution & a Letter to a Noble Lord

Edmund Burke

Jan 2010 · Cosimo, Inc.

About this ebook

Originally published between 1909 and 1917 under the name "Harvard Classics," this stupendous 51-volume set-a collection of the greatest writings from literature, philosophy, history, and mythology-was assembled by American academic CHARLES WILLIAM ELIOT (1834-1926), Harvard University's longest-serving president. Also known as "Dr. Eliot's Five Foot Shelf," it represented Eliot's belief that a basic liberal education could be gleaned by reading from an anthology of works that could fit on five feet of bookshelf. Volume XXIV features four philosophical works by Irish statesman EDMUND BURKE (1729-1797): [ "On Taste," a 1756 consideration of critical reasoning [ "On the Sublime and Beautiful," a 1757 essay on aesthetics that would influence Immanuel Kant [ "Reflections on the French Revolution," a 1790 argument against that budding uprising, which continues to inform anticommunist and antisocialist debates [ "A Letter to a Noble Lord," a 1796 missive that is a classic political tirade

About the author

Born in Ireland in 1729, Edmund Burke was an English statesman, author, and orator who is best remembered as a formidable advocate for those who were victims of injustice. He was the son of a Dublin lawyer and had also trained to practice law. In the 1760s, Burke was elected to the House of Commons from the Whig party. Burke spent most of his career in Parliament as a member of the Royal Opposition, who was not afraid of controversy, as shown by his support for the American Revolution and for Irish/Catholic rights. His best-known work is Reflections on the French Revolution (1790). Some other notable works are On Conciliation with the American Colonies (1775) and Impeachment of Warren Hastings (1788). Edmund Burke died in 1797.