“Society is indeed a contract... a partnership not only between those who are living, but between those who are living, those who are dead, and those who are to be born.”Edmund Burke · Reflecții asupra Revoluției din Franța · 1790 · paragraful 165
Society is a contract between past, present, and future generations.
Burke rejects the idea that society can be rewritten from scratch by each generation. He sees it as a contract that binds us to our ancestors, who left us laws and customs, and to our descendants, to whom we owe responsibility. For example, protecting the environment or cultural heritage are acts of respect for this intergenerational partnership.
Why it matters This quote is a powerful argument against radicalism and the idea that we can destroy everything to rebuild from scratch.