Core value - human imperfection

HN

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”