Edmund Burke ranks among the most accomplished orators ever to debate in the British Parliament. But often his eloquence has been seen to compromise his achievements as a political thinker. In the first full-length account of Burke's rhetoric, Bullard argues that Burke's ideas about civil society, and particularly about the process of political deliberation, are, for better or worse, shaped by the expressiveness of his language. Above all, Burke's eloquence is designed to express ethos or character. This rhetorical imperative is itself informed by Burke's argument that the competency of every political system can be judged by the ethical knowledge that the governors have of both the people that they govern and of themselves. Bullard finds the intellectual roots of Burke's 'rhetoric of character' in early modern moral and aesthetic philosophy, and traces its development through Burke's parliamentary career to its culmination in his masterpiece, Reflections on the Revolution in France.

The first comprehensive, contextual account of Edmund Burke's techniques of political discourse, tracing the ideas behind his 'rhetoric of character'.

About the Author
Paddy Bullard is Lecturer in Eighteenth-Century Studies at the University of Kent, Canterbury.

Reviews
'Complementing the large amount of scholarship on the structure and content of Burke's political thought, Bullard's book teaches us much about the complex history and reasoning behind Burke's ethical approach to political oratory.' Irish Studies Review
'A fresh and immediately illuminating thesis.' Times Literary Supplement



Book Information
ISBN 9781107006577
Author Paddy Bullard
Format Hardback
Page Count 284
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Weight(grams) 590g
Dimensions(mm) 235mm * 160mm * 18mm