EN 206
Problem Set #1 Lila Hempfling 1.Who was the most influential conservative
critic of the French Revolution? (Richard Price, Edmund Burke, Thomas Paine, or Mary Wollstonecraft?) Edmund Burke
2.Who wrote the first
published radical response to Burke’s Reflections on the Revolution in France
? (Richard Price, Edmund Burke, Thomas Paine, or Mary Wollstonecraft?) Thomas Paine
3.Who wrote the most widely circulated radical response to Burke, which sold more than 200,000 copies in a year? Thomas Paine
4.In his pamphlet condemning the French Revolution, Edmund Burke refers to the rational philosophy of Enlightenment that inspired and justified the revolution as “this barbarous philosophy, which is the offspring of cold hearts and muddy understandings” (192). Why does Burke choose to refer to “barbarous” philosophy, “cold” hearts, and “muddy” understandings? How do these adjectives respond to the way supporters of the revolution describe the rationalist philosophy of the Enlightenment? The term barbarous could’ve been used to view the Enlightenment philosophy as uncivilized or chaotic, contrasting it with his belief in traditional institutions and order. The term “Cold” hearts could’ve been used to criticize the Enlightenment philosophy as heartless. The term “muddy” could’ve been used to implies confusion or lack of clarity. Burke may be asserting that the Enlightenment philosophy is intellectually unclear or misguided.
5.In what other passage(s) in his Reflections
do we encounter people who could be described as barbarous? In what other passage(s) does Burke refer to offspring? In the passage “Reflections on The Revolution in France” the term “barbarous” is used to describe the actions and consequences of the French revolution. Burke also uses the term “offspring” in the same passage.
