Overview

what is the aim of conservatism

when did it originate

how does conservatism work in the US

Key Principles

pragmatism

• practical (anti-theoretical)

• flexible

• needs, support + stability

  • e.g. Covid response

tradition

• those which have endured through generations

• beyond just institutions; also forms social identity + community

• religious → secular justification (Burke + Chesterton)

• accumulated wisdom

• offers social cohesion

Examples

• Churchill statue + BoJo

• Commonwealth

• against New Labour

• Royal Wedding

Key Thinkers

Thomas Hobbes

• “power after power”

• ordered society to avoid chaos + anarchy

• humans required order + obedience

• state of nature would lead to a “war of every man”

• negative view of human nature informs belief in a social contract w/ a gov

Edmund Burke

• for organic society + change to conserve

• lessons based on abstract principles = chaos i.e. French Rev

• “accumulated wisdom”

Michael Oakeshott

• anti-rationalism e.g. communist regimes; pro-pragmatism e.g. parliament

• anti-dogma → policies should be flexible, include traditional practice + be adaptable to society

• “the office of gov… is merely to rule”

Ayn Rand

• objectivism

• rational self-interest

• opposition to external coercion of an individual: ‘non-aggression principle’

• very classical liberal take

• ‘fight for capitalism… as a moral issue’

• conservative libertarian

Robert Nozick

• rights-based libertarian

• based on Kant: ends not means

• anti state welfare tax → “forced labour”

• “night-watchman state”

• self-ownership → state welfare undermines this

Key Quotes/Terms

• “to be a Conservative is to prefer the tried to the untried” - Michael Oakeshott

• accumulated wisdom - Edmund burke

Conservatism

• pragmatism (change to conserve)

• tradition (to prefer the tried to the untried)

• organic society/state

• paternalism

• libertarianism

• human imperfection

Liberalism

• freedom/liberty

• individualism

• the State: a necessary evil

• liberal democracy

• rationalism

Socialism

• collectivism

• common humanity

• equality

• social class

• workers’ control