Conservatism Flashcards
(30 cards)
Conservative thinkers
- Thomas Hobbes (1588 - 1679)
- Edmund Burke (1729 - 1797)
- Michael Oakeshott (1901 - 1990)
- Ayn Rand (1905 - 1982)
- Robert Nozick (1939-2002)
Thomas Hobbes - book
Leviathan, 1651
Edmund Burke - book
Reflections on the revolution in France - 1790
Michael Oakeshott - book
On being conservative - 1962
Ayn Rand - book
Atlas shrugged - 1957
Robert Nozick
Anarchy, State and Utopia - 1974
Thomas Hobbes - Human Nature
Most gloomy and cynical.
He sees Humans as endlessly restless in their pursuit of power in order to satisfy their immediate desires and any potential future desires.
Humans are also around equal in strength and ability, and therefore we are fearful of others.
Humans are rational however, but we are incapable in solving complicated moral disputes and political problems - called relativism.
Thomas Hobbes - Society
Resources are scarce. Therefore, there will be wars due to human’s desire for power and resources.
Society should only exist when stability, authority and order are present. This requires obedience and loyalty to the sovereign.
Thomas Hobbes - State
Life in the state of nature, without a government is ‘nasty, brutish and short’.
Political order, established by a strong authority, can set people free.
Therefore the sovereign power needs absolute control over the people in order to establish and enforce power.
Therefore Hobbes believed in the “social contract” idea.
Thomas Hobbes - Economy
The accumulation of wealth is necessary, however, the state needs to be in constant control in order to create stability.
Think statism, relate it to Hobbes ideas on the state, and how he would want a controlled economy.
Edmund Burke - Human nature
Sceptical view of human nature.
He saw the individual as foolish but the species as wise - we are overall flawed.
He argued that humans could not rely on individual reason (rationalism) but could rely on tradition and custom, which was the ‘general bank and capital of nations and ages’.
Rejected the idea of a social contract:
“A social contract is an agreement between individuals, or a government and its citizens, that outlines the rights and responsibilities of each party. It is based on the belief that people have a natural right to freedom, but must give up some of that freedom in order to live in an ordered society.”
Instead Burke believed in a social contract that existed between the dead, living and unborn, which was to preserve traditions and customs.
The French Revolution was a destruction of that contract, as it destroyed existing institutions, removing the inheritance of those yet to be born.
Edmund Burke - Society
Highly critical of individualism.
Defended the importance of the “we” over the “I”.
Society is organic as it develops naturally. Traditions and customs change slowly based on practical knowledge and evidence, not theory.
Burke attacked the FR emphasis on equality, as he argued the hierarchy was natural in organic society.
Society should be collective and in “little platoons”.
Edmund Burke - State
We need a strong government and a higher authority with the power to create laws, which create order and stability which truly sets us free.
While Burke was very critical of the FR, he praised the American Revolution, as they were looking to keep much of the inherited British common law in their new constitution, and therefore appeased to traditions and the preservation of customs, which in France they looked to radically change.
Edmund Burke - Economy
Placed a key importance on property rights, and the importance for the state to protect them.
The alleviation of poverty should be achieved by private charity.
Michael Oakeshott - Human nature
Oakshott saw humans as fragile and fallible, unable to understand the world as it is too complex for humans to grasp.
Focused on the imperfection of human nature; Humans may have dreams of the ideal society, however, there is a gap in what we dream about and what we are capable of, and there is a danger in that.
Michael Oakeshott - Society
Highly critical of the idea of “rationalism” - the remaking of society using political philosophers ideas.
Abstract ideals will always fail, as they are not based on concrete experience. Instead, our society must grow naturally using traditions that have been based on 100’s of years of human experience.
Michael Oakeshott - State
Rejected the ideas of other earlier conservative thinkers on the government, and how they improve the condition of mankind / perfect mankind’s position.
Instead, attempts by the government to perfect mankind are dangerous to human liberty and dignity.
The main role of the government is to preserve public order.
Michael Oakeshott - Economy
One nation conservative thinkers had a paternalistic view on the economy.
The state should intervene in the free market economy in order to ensure social stability.
Ayn Rand - Human Nature
New right thinker who came up with the idea of rational and ethical egoism.
Her philosophy is based on the principles of reason, self-interest and capitalism, which she claims will deliver freedom and man’s happiness on Earth.
“Man must exist for his own sake”, neither sacrificing himself to others or sacrificing others for his own sake.
Ayn Rand - Human Nature
New right thinker who came up with the idea of rational and ethical egoism.
Her philosophy is based on the principles of reason, self-interest and capitalism, which she claims will deliver freedom and man’s happiness on Earth.
“Man must exist for his own sake”, neither sacrificing himself to others for sacrificing others for his own sake.
Ayn Rand - Society
Ayn Rand’s view on egoism led to the concept of Atomism. The concept that society, if it exists, is a collection of individuals pursuing their own individual lives and being responsible for themselves. Collective identities, such as class, are meaningless.
Society must be meritocratic.
The most talented individuals start businesses,invent new technologies and trade with other rational egoists in order to achieve their goals.
Ayn Rand - State
The state’s role is vital, but is limited simply to ‘police officers’, protecting the rights of each citizen against criminals and foreign invaders.
Ayn Rand - Economy
The ideal social system is free-market capitalism, which involves ‘a separation of state and economics’.
This system protects the rights of the worker to use their own mind and judgement, work for their values (and not the state / society) and keep the rewards of their labour.
Robert Nozick - Human nature
Nozick is an outlier in terms of other conservative thinkers, which almost always have pessimistic views on human nature.
Nozick, however, argued that all humans have self-ownership, and are entitled to their own body, mind and abilities.
Individuals have rights which have pre-existed any other social contract / state, which comes in the form of humans’ natural tendency to devote themselves to their own projects and devices.
Instead of the “brutishly competitive atoms” that Ayn Rand saw in humans, Nozick argued that while we are indeed individualistic, we are dignified and rational in the pursuit of our goals.
