ABSTRACT
The atomistic society of Enlightenment thinking contrasted with Rousseau's solidaristic outlook. Once the Reaction set in against the Enlightenment and its Revolution, the historical setting involved in our analysis presents diverse social systems. Different implications existed within each of the several societies and therefore our geographic area has to broaden. The diversity of national settings combined with the common object of the attack on the Revolution leaves us with the problem of understanding the integrity of a thinker's ideas in the context of history. For a specific national setting may link dynamism at home with conservatism abroad. Burke illustrates how a unique English setting can have inspired liberalism; yet the French Revolution called forth conservatism. Burke held that the French Revolution was an expression of an international revolutionary movement. The Revolution had initially appealed to the same groups in different countries, and they can be lumped together in the category of the bourgeoisie.
