The theory of natural rights upon which Burke heaped such contempt was wrong rather in its form than in its substance.
Harold J. Laski: “The theory of natural rights upon which Burke heaped such contempt was wrong rather in its form than in its substance.”
Editor's note · Context
Laski critiques Burke's dismissal of natural rights, suggesting that the form was flawed rather than the substance.
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The intolerance may be Catholic, when it insists that a unity of outlook is essential for the preservation of society; or it may be Protestant when, as with Calvin and the Socinians, it holds that the blasphemous nature of the belief…
He is able, accordingly, to indulge in the twofold luxury not only of preserving his own authority, but also of assisting the persons attacked to enter, if they so choose, the way of truth.
We grant it in religion to deny it in politics; we grant it in politics, to deny it in economic matters.
The essence of the persecuting position is always that the persecutor has hold of truth and that he would betray its service by allowing it to be questioned.





