Conservatism

• Key thinker: Edmund Burke 'Father of conservatism' 1. Traditional conservative

  Key ideas:

  1. GRADUALISM: Change to conserve: society should adapt to changing circumstances rather than reject change outright, risking rebellion
  2. Respect tradition and empiricism, because they represent practices passed down from one generation to the next.

  • The state: represents a living organism that might be changed slightly to maintain stability.
  • Human nature: not terrible, it is fail-able, but capable of kindness + wisdom. (Tradition guides human nature to rationality)
• Key thinker Edmund Burke 2.

  • Society: Tradition and empiricism represent ‘tested’ wisdoms of past generations.
  • Economy: Supports free-market capitalism and the easing of poverty by private charity.
• Key thinker: Robert Nozick Key ideas: New Right

  1. Libertarianism: individuals have the right to their lives, liberty and the results of their labour. - Maximum economic freedom, and limited government regulation
  2. Self ownership: (Refer to libertarianism) Enforced taxation (welfare) and state regulation threatens this (anti-smoking measures)
• Key thinker Robert Nozick

  Uses:

  Human nature: Self-ownership and rationality mean individuals should be left to their own choices and they should pursue their own goals

  The economy: Taxes levied for state welfare are immoral as they treat individuals as a resource. Only a minimalist state can be justified. LAISSEZ-FAIRE

  Society: People are individual and have their own aims and goals. People should be left to achieve these on their own.

  The state:The state should have minimal intervention upon the individual
• Thomas Hobbes: 'Leviathan' (1651) = Dominant state

  • A dominant state is needed to keep order in society - sacrifice liberty for social order
  • Although he does agree with the liberal ideal that the people should give consent to this
  • Pessimistic about human nature, without law and order there would be "a war of all against all"
• Michael Oakeshott 'Rationalism in Politics' 1962

  • Tradition - to be conservative is 'to prefer the familiar to the unknown'
  • Human imperfection - humans are intellectually imperfect (political ideas are too hard to understand)
  • Pragmatism - instead of being ideological, conservatives should make practical decisions. (Rejection of a revolution/overthrow of state)
  • No state intervention
• Ayn Rand (1905-1982)

  • Objectivism - we can gain knowledge through logic + reason
  • Humans are self-interested and rational - pursuing individual happiness is the purpose of life
  • We can make choices for ourselves (rationality) - she opposed conservative paternalism
  • Freedom - neo-liberalism + laissez-faire economics.