B.2.1 Beliefs of conservatism

Question 1

State the core beliefs of conservatism

Question 2

Who are the key thinkers (in bold are spec-specific thinkers)?

Answer 2

• Tom Hobbes (mid 17th century)
• Edmund Burke (late 18th century)
• Sir Robert Peel
• Disreali
• Harold MacMillan
• Mike Oakeshott (mid-late 20th century)
• Ayn Rand (mid 20th century)
• Milton Friedman
• **Robert Nozick (late 20th century)*

Question 3

State the shared key ideas of conservatism

Answer 3

• pragmatism
• pessimistic view of human nature
• tradition
• organic state
• authority
• rejection of equality of outcome
• paternalism
• private enterprise; capitalism

Answer 4

1. conservatism shouldn’t be seen as an ‘ideology’ & instead it should be viewed as a mindset (way of thinking & living) rather than a logical chain of ideas; conservatives will mostly reject ideology & instead, favour pragmatism
2. pragmatism views practical experience as more useful than ideology: what works is more important than what might work; key thinkers Oakeshott - ‘theory or ideology tends to reduce complex situations to simplistic ideas’, “…prefer the tried to the untried…” & Burke - ‘radical change is dangerous’ (e.g. French Revolution), therefore it’s better to preserve (conserve) what we have
3. examples of pragmatism would be the Conservative governments of the “post-war consensus” during the period 1951-64 (Churchill, Eden, MacMillan, Douglas-Home), although, the key minister in this period was R.A. Butler
4. pragmatism was clearly put into place when Labour had major changes between 1945-51 - NHS, welfare, nationalisation, council housing, Keynesianism, consulting trade unions, etc: the Conservative government left almost all of this intact, recognising that public opinion was in favour of these policies

Answer 5

1. humans are not perfect
2. human nature is fundamentally flawed: we inherently hold qualities such as greedy, selfish, individualistic, etc; this links back to pragmatism
3. radical change is bound to fail if, human nature is ‘as it is’ i.e. the main point being, if the aim of socialist ideology is to create a society based on equality of outcome this will fail
4. intellectual imperfection (humans are irrational; this also goes into the points of conflict between modern & traditional conservatives), moral imperfection (they are competitive, greedy, selfish, etc), psychological imperfection (humans are dependent & in need of security, familiarity, etc)
5. human nature is immutable: it cannot be changed

Answer 6

1. humans are easily led because they lack the ability to think rationally
2. humans are needy & vulnerable but also competitive & violent
3. humans have a desire for liberty but this would lead to chaos (hence why Hobbes wanted a very strong state - not all conservatives would agree with it leading to potential anarchy)
4. the ‘state of nature’ which is a hypothetical viewing man as free but having no authority: in this scenario, there would be “a restless desire for power” - this would lead to conflict & chaos
5. Key quote - “the war of every man against every man”
6. life would end up being “nasty, brutish and short”; therefore an ordered society with a strong state is essential

Answer 7

1. politics should be based on abstract principles & ideology: rationalist politics (however, opposing Oakeshott’s view, society is much more complex & unpredictable than an ideology, all this leads to reductionism & anti-intellectualism)
2. most people are not capable of rational thought
   3.