柏克（Edmund Burke，1729—1797年）是18世纪下半叶英国最享盛名的政治理论家，《法国革命论》则是他最享盛名的一部作品。这本书写成于法国大革命爆发之次岁，它和大革命前两年英国作家扬（Arthur Young）所写的《法国旅行记》同为研究法国大革命的当时英国两部最重要的第一手历史文献。

柏克生于爱尔兰首府都柏林的一个中产阶级家庭，他的父亲是英国国教徒，母亲是天主教徒；他本人也是英国国教徒，但自幼受的是贵格会（Quakers）的教育。这种宗教信仰的背景或许有助于解说为什么他毕生要主张宗教宽容。他先在都柏林就读于三一学院，21岁时去英格兰学法律，后又改学政治和文学。1756年他写成《自然社会的论证》一书，书中讥讽了流行一时的博林布鲁克（Bolingbroke）的理论，而且还冒名是博林布鲁克本人的作品。博林布鲁克曾认为，文明社会的出现必然要伴随着贫困和苦难，并且还认为基督教可以归结为当时流行的自然神教（Deism）。柏克则辩论说，如果是这样的话，一切政治社会就都会成为一片混乱和无秩序了。次年（1757年）他写成了一部美学著作《对崇高观念和优美观念之起源的哲学研究》；此书不但奠定了他的学术地位，而且在美学史上也已成为一部经典性的著作。

Edmund Burke was the dominant political thinker of the last quarter of the eighteenth century in England. His reputation depends less on his role as a practising politician than on his ability to set contemporary problems within a wider context of political theory. Above all, he commented on change. He tried to teach lessons about how change should be managed, what limits should not be transgressed, and what should be reverently preserved. Burke's generation was much in need of advice on these matters. The Industrial Revolution, the American Revolution, and catastrophically, the French Revolution presented challenges of terrible proportions. They could promise paradise or threaten anarchy. Burke was acutely aware of how high the stakes were. The Reflections on the Revolution in France was a dire warning of the consequences that would follow the mismanagement of change. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.