Core values for L (first set of cards is weird because it was ai-generated ages ago)

Conservatism

A political ideology defined by a desire to conserve through support for tradition, scepticism toward rapid change, and belief in an organic society.

Tradition

Accumulated wisdom of past generations and established institutions or values, believed by conservatives to create social stability and identity.

Human Imperfection

Conservative belief that humans are psychologically, morally and intellectually flawed, making them prone to error and in need of authority and order.

Hierarchy

The natural, unequal ranking of individuals and groups in society, viewed by conservatives as necessary and inevitable.

Authority

Legitimate power that comes ‘from above’ and provides guidance, security and order within society.

Organic Society

The idea that society is a living entity whose members are interdependent; change should therefore be gradual and preservative.

Pragmatism

A flexible, practical approach that judges policies by ‘what works’ rather than by abstract principles.

Empiricism

Preference for experience-based evidence over theoretical schemas; conservatives use it to justify tradition and gradualism.

Scepticism

Conservative caution toward utopian ideas and sweeping political projects due to uncertainty about human reason.

Change to Conserve

Burkean principle that limited, cautious reform is necessary to preserve the core fabric of society.

Original Sin

Theological idea used by conservatives to explain humanity’s moral imperfection and need for strong law and order.

Paternalism

Benign power exercised from above in the interests of the people; ranges from traditional authoritarian forms to One-Nation social obligation.

One-Nation Conservatism

Disraeli-inspired strand advocating social reform and noblesse oblige to prevent society splitting into ‘two nations’.

Noblesse Oblige

Moral duty of the privileged to care for the less fortunate; central to One-Nation conservatism.

Atomism

View (rejected by traditional conservatives) that society consists only of self-interested individuals; embraced by neo-liberals.

Libertarianism

Doctrine emphasising individual liberty and minimal state, particularly in economic affairs; key to the New Right.

Neo-Liberalism

Economic wing of the New Right favouring free markets, deregulation, privatisation and individualism.

Neo-Conservatism

Social wing of the New Right stressing authority, strong law-and-order policies and traditional morality to combat social fragmentation.

New Right

Fusion of neo-liberal economics and neo-conservative social policy developed from the 1970s onward.

Property

Physical goods or wealth owned privately; conservatives link it to security, responsibility and social order.

Property-Owning Democracy

New Right ideal that widespread ownership strengthens resistance to state power and fosters conservative values.

Thrift

Conservative virtue of careful saving and investment, believed to promote security and self-reliance.

Natural Aristocracy

Burke’s idea that talented, responsible elites should rule for the common good within a hierarchical society.

Order

Primary conservative goal of creating a stable, predictable environment even at the expense of some liberty.

Laissez-Faire

Economic principle of minimal state interference in markets, championed by Ayn Rand and neo-liberals.

Objectivism

Ayn Rand’s philosophy advocating rational self-interest and pure capitalist freedom.

Self-Ownership

Nozick’s libertarian concept that individuals own their bodies, talents and labour, limiting state entitlement to them.

Empirical Pragmatism

Oakeshott’s view that politics should be a practical conversation guided by experience, not ideological argument.

‘Democracy of the Dead’

Chesterton’s phrase describing tradition as giving past generations a ‘vote’ in present decisions.

‘Power after Power’

Hobbes’s depiction of innate human drive for continual advantage, justifying strong sovereign authority.

Law and Order (Conservative view)

Criminality stems from individual sinfulness; thus exemplary punishment and firm policing are required to maintain order.

Two Nations

Disraeli’s warning of a gulf between rich and poor that could lead to social unrest.

Tory Democracy

Randolph Churchill’s attempt to broaden Conservative support by combining tradition with popular social reform.

Anti-Permissiveness

Neo-conservative rejection of liberal moral relativism in favour of traditional public morality.

Radical (New Right sense)

Willingness to dismantle collectivist institutions to advance free-market reforms, despite conservatism’s usual caution.

Psychological Imperfection

Human craving for security and familiarity, underpinning conservative support for tradition and patriotism.

Moral Imperfection

Belief that humans are tempted to wrongdoing; necessitates strict laws and moral codes.

Intellectual Imperfection

Limited human reason makes grand ideological designs dangerous; hence conservative distrust of abstract schemes.

Empirical Society

Oakeshott’s notion that society should ‘stay afloat’ by adapting pragmatically rather than steering toward utopias.

Burglary (Conservative view)

Seen as personal violation because property is an extension of identity, reinforcing the need for tough penalties.

Privatisation

Transfer of state assets to private hands; supported by neo-liberals but criticised by Macmillan as ‘selling the family silver’.

Authority ‘from Above’

Belief that leadership should guide the imperfect masses, justified by experience, status or talent.

Empirical Conservatism

Approach that evaluates institutions by their longevity and practical success, not by ideological purity.

Anti-Ideology

Conservative stance that fixed doctrines are dangerous because reality is too complex for abstract blueprints.

Burke’s Gradualism

View that reform should be organic and incremental to maintain continuity with historical development.

Patriotism (Conservative)

Emotional attachment to nation providing collective identity and psychological security.

Burke’s idea of a ‘natural aristocracy’

‘Natural’

• Innateness of talent and leadership

  • Not acquirable through effort nor self-advancement

‘Aristocracy’

• Upper class of people

‘Authority from above’ - relating to paternalism

‘Authority’

• Develops naturally from necessity

• Nurtures/guides/punishes us (like a father)

• Acts in our own interests

‘From above’

• Cannot arise from below

• Paternalism

  • Power exerted from above governs in the interests of the people

    • E.g. children do not agree to be governed by their parents

• Human nature - we are too intellectually and psychologically imp. to agree to being governed

  • Yet we are morally imp. and need authority to prevent chaos

Limits to authority

• Cannot be by an artificial contract

• Can be by natural responsibilities that are included in responsbility

  • We cannot treat those we have authority over however we choose

Quotes: Burke

“A true natural aristocracy is not a separate interest in the state, or separable from it. It is an essential integrant part of any large body rightly constituted”

“a natural aristocracy, without which there is no nation”

We should respect “institutions on the principle which nature teaches to respect individual men: on account of their age, and on account of those from whom they are descended”

You should “lov[e] the little platoons to which you belong”

Quotes: Hobbes

“laws of nature” bind everyone (now known as morality) and that we can’t determine for ourselves

Things conservatives are sceptical of

• Untried/tested methods or ideas

• Fixed political principles

• Activity of politics (therefore should be limited)

Empiricism

• Judging current actions against past experiences

  • E.g.. existing institutions have stood the test of time and proved themselves worthy, unlike new ideas

• Contrasts with normative view taken by liberalism and socialism (denotion of how arrangements shold be in the future)

Components of empiricism

• Traditions (stood the test of time)

• Pragmatism

• Suspicion of the new

Consequences of empiricism

• Politicians should build on, and be informed by, the wisdom of the past

• Preference for the known over the unknown

• Permanently looking backwards

• No clear viwe of how society will be in the future, or plans to create this

Quotes: Gilmour

“Scepticism and empiricism are the foundations of conservatism”

Quotes: Oakeshott

“A conservative society is one that merely aims to stay afloat in uncertain waters, rather than sail steadily towards some specific destination which may ultimately prove illusory”

Conservatism as a reaction to change

• Symbolised by French revolution - economic, social and political change

First statement of conservative principles

• 1790 - Edumund Burke

• “Change in order to conserve”

  • Supporting social change in order to prevent more revolutionary reform

    • Tories introduced gay marriage/the NHS/the welfare state to prevent being left behind during public calls for change

Conservatism in the 19th Century

• Western states transformed by industrialisation

  • Led to increase in liberalism, socialism and nationalism, which preach reform and sometimes revolution

• Conservatism emerged as a defence of tradition and social order

  • Looking after those at the bottom to prevent change at the top

‘Intellectual modesty’

• Doesn’t use complicated economic/social philosophies

• Simply aims to prevent a pre-existing social order

Post-1970s Conservatism - Thatcher (1979-90) and Reagan (1981-9)

• Emergence of radical conservatism - NR

  • Influenced by classical liberal economics (free-market)

  • Readjustment of traditions in favour of liberalism

  • Maintenance and strengthening of trad. social princioples like order, authority and discipline

  • Exposed deep divisions in conservatism

Divisions in Conservatism from the late 19th Century onwards

• Paternalistic, state intervention

vs

• Commitment to free market

Conservatism as a negative philosophy

• Know what they oppose more than what they favour

• Purpose: preach resistance to change

Conservatism as a political attitude

• Seen as a knee-jerk reaction to the status quo

Conservatism as an ideology

• Founded on a particular set of beliefs about humans, society and political values (therefore is an ideology by definition)

• Prefer to call themselves an ‘attitude of mind’ or ‘common sense’

  • Conservatism is distinct due to its emphasis on history and experience and distaste for rational thought

• Has eschewed politics of principle by adopting a traditionalist political stance

Quotes: Burke

“A state without the means of some change is without the means of its own conservation”

Quotes: Oakeshott

“The conjunction of ruling and dreaming generates tyranny”

“Instead of an independently premediated scheme of ends to be pursued, it [political ideology] is a system of ideas abstracted from the manner in which people have been accustomed to go about the business of attending to the arrangements of their societies”

Pragmatism

• Flexible approach to dealing with issues making decisions on the basis of what works

• Change to conserve

Format and role of politics

• Politics should be a conversation, not an argument

  • Compromise vs anger and conflict

• Political action should never be the result of conflict over political theories

  • Should be a relationship between govt and governed

Post-war pragmatism

• Modern Con govt kept radical Labour reforms (NHS, nationalisation, welfare state) due to their popularity

  • No point in getting rid of them if they worked and made the electorate happy

Quotes: Burke

“A state without the means of some change is without the means of its own conservation”

Quotes: Oakeshott (don’t rock the boat!)

[The job of the govt is to] “keep the ship afloat at all costs… using experience to negotiate a storm, stoicism to accept necessary changes of direction… and not fixating on a part that may not exist”

Conservatives prefer “the familiar to the unknown, the actual to the possible, the convenient to the perfect… present laughter to utopian bliss”

“politics should be a conversation, not an argument”

Tradition

• Values, practices and institutions that have endured time and passed from one generation to the next

• Includes traditional institutions - monarchy church, political instutitions and traditional values - marriage, family

Role of religious beliefs in supporting tradition

• As the world was created by God, traditional customs and practices are God-given

  • Tampering with the world = challenging the will of God

Burke - God and tradition

• Society is shaped by ‘the law of our Creator’ / ‘natural law’

  • Tampering with the world = challenging the will of God

Changing traditions post-18th century

• Old traditions replaced with new ones (man-made)

  • New traditions cannot be dubbed as God-given

• Therefore, religious argument begins to weaken

Modern fundamentalists

• Retain their religious objection to change

• View that God’s wishes were revealed to humankind in the literal truth of religious texts

Burke and Chesterton - role of ancestors in traditionDar

Burke

• Society is a partnership between ‘those who are living, those who are dead and those who are to be born’

Chesterton

• ‘Democracy of the dead’

‘Democracy of the dead’ - significance and meaning

• Tradition is the accumulated wisdom of the past

• It therefore gives our ancestors life throgh maintaining their legacy and influence

Darwinian justification for tradition

• Social darwinism

• Traditions and customs ahve only survived as they work and are valuable

Tradition as a sense of individual and societal identity

Established customs e.g. judiciary wearing robes and wigs, letterboxes being red

• Provide familiarity and reassurance due to strong historical basis

  • Historical basis creates a generation of social cohesion

    • Collective sense of self

Impact of change

• Journey into the unknown

  • Creation of sense of uncertainty and insecurity

Quotes: Burke

“The individual is foolish but the species is wise”

“A partnership… between those who are living, those who are dead and those who are to be born”

Quotes: John Major

“Both the family and our nation are central to the security of the individual”

“The essential purpose of Conservatism is to conserve what is good and tried and reform when it is essential to do so”

Quotes: Oakeshott

“Just as a plants new leaves are connected to, dependent on and explained by the plant’s roots and branches, so a society’s present direction stems from its past development”

Quotes: Chesterton

“Tradition means giving a vote to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead”

Psychological imperfection

• Humans fear isolation and instability

• Drawn to safety and familiarity - we seek the security of knowing our place

Consequences of belief in psychological imperf

• Emphasis on social order

  • Ensures stability and predictability of life therefore providing security

• Suspicion of liberty

  • Hobbes - prepared to sacrifice liberty for social order

Moral imperfection

• Pessimistic/Hobbesian view of HN

• Humankind innately selfish and greedy (links to idea of original sin)

• Hobbes - the primary human urge is power

• People are prone to expressing violent and anti-social impulses

Original sin/reason for crime

• Crime is not a product of inequality and social disadvantage

  • Instead consequence of base human instincts and appetite (original sin)

Consequence of belief in moral imperf

• People can can only be persuaded to live in a civilised manner if deterred by law

• Increase in corporal and capital punishment

  • Exemplary punishment 🙂

  • Social remedies ☹

• Law = to preserve order

• Law ≠ to uphold liberty

Intellectual imperfection

• The world is too complex for humans to fully grasp

Consequences of belief in intellectual imperf - reform

• Tradition, pragmatic solutions > abstract ideas, dogmatic solutions

• Because:

  • Political principles such as equality and social justice can trigger reform

    • Reform leads to greater suffering (not less!)

      • Doing nothing is better than doing something

        • Oakeshott - cure not worse than disease

• However, this weight of importance has been weakened due to rise of NR that advocates for radical economic liberalism

Consequences of belief in intellectual imperf - nature of government

• Govt should not be too much of a popular democracy as this leads to poor governing

• Govt should not follow the fluctuating public views/demands but use judgement to serve the whole community

• Disraeli - universal suffrage 🙂 but people cannot be fully trusted with govt

  • Suspicion of referendums

Quotes: Oakeshott

“In political activity men sail a boundless and bottomless sea”

Quotes: Hobbes

The desire for “power after power” is the primary human urge

Quotes: Thatcher

“Referendums are a device of demagogues and dictators”

Relationship between inviduals and society

• Individuals are inseparable from society

  • Can’t and don’t exist outside of society due to psychological imperfection

    • Need for security means they need to be part of a social group (aka society) that can nurture them

Reluctance for freedom to mean negative freedoms

• Negative freedom causes ‘anomie’ (individuals are left alone and suffer, coined by Durkheim)

• Freedom involves accepting social obligations and ties by individuals who recognise their value - ‘doing one’s duty’

Freedom as a parent-child analogy

• Parents instructing their children about their behaviour = providing guidance for the child’s benefit

• The child then conforming to these wishes = them acting freely out of recognition of their obligations