Conservatism

Conservatism

Introduction
1. Often suggested that conservatives have a clearer understanding of what they oppose than of what they favour . In that sense , conservatism has been portrayed as a negative philosophy, it purpose being simply to preach resistance to, or at least suspicious of change.
  1. However if conservatism only reactionary to the Status quo = merely a political attitude rather than ideology. But what distinguished conservatives is the distinctive way they uphold their position against change.
    1. Conservatism an ideology? Prefer to describe their beliefs as 'common sense'.
Tradition
1. For some conservatives, this emphasis on tradition reflects their religious change. The world fashion by God the Creator, traditional customs and practices in society will be regarded as 'God given'. Burke believed that society was shaped by the 'law of our Creator'/''. natural law' . Human tampering with the world challenges the will of God, make human affairs worse.
2. A practice or institution that has endured through time and has therefore been inherited from an earlier period. Against change
3. Most conservatives support tradition without needing to argue that it has divine origins. Burke described society as a pertnership between 'those who are living those who are dead and those who are to be born '. G.K. Chesterson'Tradtition means giving votes to the most obscure of all clases. it is a democracy of the dead. Tradition fuses to submit to the arrogant oligrchy of ths who merely happen to be walking around'.
  1. Tradition reflects the accumulated wisdom of the past. Past institutions and practice= 'tested by time' and should be preserved for the benefit of the living and for generations to come. Reflects Darwinian belief that they have survived because they've worked and found to be of value, endorsed by a process of 'natural selection', demonstrated fitness to survive. UK conservatives argue that the institution of monarchy should be preserved because it embodied historical wisdom and experience-focused britan's on national loyalty ad respect above 'party politics'-it worked wisom and experience-the crown
4. Generates a sense of identity. Individuals recognize established customs,, familiar. Provides a sense of 'rootedness' and belonging . Generates social cohesion by linking people to the past and providing them with a collective sense of who they are.
  1. Change=journey into the unknown,uncertain and insecure-endangering our happiness. Tradition encompasses familiar customs and generates seucrity and belonging
5. Edmund Burke
  1. Ideology-Liberal conservatism Time Period -1729-1797 Key works-Reflections on the revolutions in France Key concepts and theories Government although it can prevent evil is rarely promotes goof Opposed abolition of the monarchy as new institutions were not tried and tested Peoples desire to be ruled and controlled and hierarchy property and order promote stability He regarded market forces as natural law He described society as a partnership between ‘those who are living and those who are dead and those who are to be born He advocated not blind resistance to change , but rather a prudent willingness to ‘change in order to conserve’ He was a critic of democrat as he believed it brought tyranny Was the father of one nation conservatism . Supported classical economics of Adam Smith and regarded market forces as 'natural law'
    1. Quotes ‘The only thing necessary for the trumping evil is for good men to do nothing’ ‘All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent’ Context 1700 one year after the French dismissed theory monarchy and at a time where growing hysteria in England over whether revolution would cross he channel. Provoked a vehement criticism of the action of revolutionary, the book turned into a general manual for conservatism Burkes reflections is a plea for the preservation of order ad gradual reform as opposed to disorder that result from revolutionary change The French revolution sacrifice s order and security in order to impose abstract theories that were premature, unnecessary and not generally supported by the majority of the people The natural aristocracy were born to rule The fact that values and institutions have survived argue conservatives in general is a testament to their quality
Human Imperfection
1. Conservatism='philosophy of human imperfection'(O'sullivan). Conservative dismiss other ideologies idealistist utopian dreams of human perfction ad argue instead that human beings are both imperfect and imperfectible
2. 1) Psychologically limited and dependent creatures, fear isolation and instability, drawn to the psychologically to the safe and familiar and above all seek the 'security of knowing their place'
  1. Therefore emphasise the importance of social order & are suspicious of the attractions of liberty. Order ensures that human life is stable and predictable -provides security in an uncertain world. Thomas Hobbes-prepared to sacrifice liberty in the cause of social order
3. Pessimistic, Hobbesian POV. Humankind is innatley selfish and greedy and not perfectible-Hobbes, the desire for 'power after power' is the primary human urge. Sme explain this through the Old estaments 'original sin'. Crime=not a product of inequality or social disadvantage but a cosequece f base human institintcts. People can olu be persuaded to be civilized if deterred from expressing their violent and anti-social impulses. Only effective deterrent is the law, backed up by the knowledge that it is strictly enforced
  1. Explains conservative preference for string govt and 'tough' criminal justice regimes, based on long sentences and corporal punishment/capital. The concepts of law and order are so closely related for conservatives that they have become a single fused concepts
4. Limited intellectual powers. The world is to complicated for human reason to graspfully. The political world is 'boundless and boundless' (Michael Oakeshott).C= csuspicious of abstract ideas and systems that are simply incomprehnsible . Ground ideas in tradition, experience, and history, adopting a cautious, moderate and above all pragmatic approach to the world and avoiding doctrinai o dogmatic beleifs. High sounding principles-'rights of man' ' 'equality' and 'social justice are fraught with danger-provide a blueprint for the reform or the remodeling of the world , C warn that these lead, often, to greater suffering. C-doing nothing is preferable to doing something-'the cure is not worse than the disease'(Oakeshott)
5. C support for traditionalism and pragmaism has weakened as a result of the rise of the new right-radical-sought to advance free market reforms by dimantaling inherited welfarist and interventionists structures and new rigt radicalism is based on rationalim and a commitment to abstract theories and principles-economic liberalism
Organic Society
1. ORGANICISM-A beleif that society operates like an organism or living entity , the whole being more than a collection of its individual parts. ANOMIE: A weakening of values and normative rules, associated with feelings of isolation, loneliness and meaninglessness

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