4.1 Conservatism Applied Principles

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

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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

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Key Quotes/Terms

• “to be a Conservative is to prefer the tried to the untried” - Michael Oakeshott
• accumulated wisdom - Edmund burke

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Conservatism

• pragmatism (change to conserve)
• tradition (to prefer the tried to the untried)
• organic society/state
• paternalism
• libertarianism
• human imperfection

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Liberalism

• freedom/liberty
• individualism
• the State: a necessary evil
• liberal democracy
• rationalism

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Socialism

• collectivism
• common humanity
• equality
• social class
• workers’ control

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