Conservatism

Question 1

What is change to conserve?

Answer 1

The fundamental principle of conservatism - indicating the belief that for something valuable to be preserved it has to be continuously updated and maintained.

Question 2

What is human imperfection?

Answer 2

Referring to the Old Testament doctrine of original sin - refers to the timeless flaws of humanity.

Question 3

What is conservatives view on human nature?

Answer 3

Negative

Question 4

What did Thomas hobbes say was needed to protect people? And why?

Answer 4

He argued without a formal authority between human beings relationships between humans woulbe be “envy hatred and war”

Question 5

What did Burke believe would help humans be kind and wise?

Answer 5

If humans actions were rooted in history, tradition and the teachings of the Christian church. - Hobbes rejected this Idea

Question 6

What concept of Hobbes’s view on human nature did Burke reject?

Answer 6

That humans were naturally individualistic but instead communal, with individuals gaining comfort and support from “Little platoons”

Question 7

What was Thomas Hobbes’s most famous work called?

Answer 7

Leviathan (1651)

Question 8

What was Thomas Hobbes’s view on human nature?

Answer 8

Sceptical arguing that it was needy and vulnerable therefore Linley to commit destructive acts.

Question 9

What did Hobbes argue shaped human nature?

Answer 9

Desire for the acquisition of goods, an immovable distrust of others and constant fear of violent death.

Question 10

What was the quote Hobbes used to describe the state of nature?

Answer 10

“Solitary,poor, nasty, brutish and short”

Question 11

What did Hobbes say natural chaos stemmed from?

Answer 11

The absence of a natural authority

Question 12

What did Hobbes say would allow individuals to enjoy security and progress?

Answer 12

A state that is sovereign that can make laws etc

Question 13

What did Hobbes say the structure of the state needed to be?

Answer 13

The state would have too be autocratic, if power was dispersed then the conflicts within the state would soon be replicated

Question 14

What is localism?

Answer 14

The conservative idea that society is a collection off localised communities

Question 15

What did these Little communities provide?

Answer 15

These communities provided security, status and inspiration.

Question 16

What is empiricism?

Answer 16

A preference for “evidence” over “theory” and tends to emphasise “what is” over “what should be”

Question 17

What is normative?

Answer 17

Denotes how arrangements should be in future - a term conservatives hate

Question 18

What is progressive?

Answer 18

Linked to socialism and liberalism denotes the belief that problems invariably have solutions and that the future must always be superior to the past and present - an assumption about which conservatives are sceptical.

Question 19

How do conservatives think society should be created?

Answer 19

Something that can not be contrived or created but something that emerges gradually and organically.

Question 20

What do conservatives believe about change?

Answer 20

That change and reform is inevitable - it must be slow not drastic; respectful not contemptuous of the past.

Question 21

What is paternalism?

Answer 21

The idea that there should be a “fatherly” ruling class, that makes decisions for the rest, irrespective to what they want.

Question 22

What do conservatives believe in terms of hierarchy?

Answer 22

That hierarchy in society is inevitable, even the “Little platoons” have a top down structure.

Question 23

What are the cross overs in Christian and conservative morality?

Answer 23

Conservatives believe on traditional families, Christian values.

Question 24

What did conservatives believe property did in society?

Answer 24

They believe that it stabilises society as it is handed down from generation to generation.

Question 25

How do conservative views of the state differ from liberalism and socialism?

Answer 25

Liberalism and socialism believe that the state is there to advance individualism and greater equality, whereas conservatives believe that the state is there for an authoritative and disciplinary function.

Question 26

What did Hobbes believe helped liberty be present in society?

Answer 26

Order within society, without it there could be no liberty

Question 27

What do states believe is the ideal way for a state to be formed?

Answer 27

Through organic origins, a slow and gradual process.

Question 28

What are capitalism’s view on the economy?

Answer 28

They support laissez faire capitalism. However, they are sceptical of it as of humans negative nature they believe it brings great risk because of its volatility.

Question 29

What is Thatcherism?

Answer 29

Between 1970 and 1990 - thatcher pursued a controversial mixture of neo-liberal policies (privatisation and tax reduction) and neo-conservative policies such as strengthened police powers, immigration curbs and tax breaks for traditional families

Question 30

Example of a traditional conservative thinker?

Answer 30

Edmund Burke

Question 31

What event did Edmund Burke support?

Answer 31

American revolution.

Question 32

What event did Burke reject?

Answer 32

The French Revolution

Question 33

Why did Burke reject the French Revolution?

Answer 33

Because he thought their idea of an idealistic society was utopian and unrealistic

Question 34

What is one nation conservatism?

Answer 34

Benjamin Disraeli - belief that conservatism should prioritise national unity by attending to the condition of society’s poorest classes

Question 35

What are examples of legislation that coincided with pne nation conservatism?

Answer 35

Factory act 1874

Question 36

What are the cross-overs in Christian democracy and conservatism?

Answer 36

- same belief in judaeo-Christian morality as a force for binding society together - same belief in authority and hierarchy - same commitment to social conservatism. - scepticism towards free market economics. Christian democracy thus stresses the “social market” a form of capitalism that draws upon Roman Catholic principles of communal duty

Question 37

What is supranationalism?

Answer 37

Refers to state whose authority cuts across national boundaries. The Soviet Union was a clear example; the European Union is said to be a developing example

Question 38

What are conservatives views on supranational bodies?

Answer 38

Dislike the concept are they see it as a threat to “one nation”

Question 39

What is Oakeshott’s book called?

Answer 39

On being conservative

Question 40

What did Oakeshott believe regarding how society is perceived in other ideologies?

Answer 40

He believed that liberalism’s and socialism’s view on how society should be produced impatience, intolerance and frustration.

Question 41

What was Oakeshotts view on human nature?

Answer 41

Negative but not as negative as Burkes

Question 42

What sort of approach to life did Oakeshott favour?

Answer 42

A pragmatic approach

Question 43

What did Oakeshott believe a state existed for and in what book did he write this?

Answer 43

He believed a state existed to “prevent the bad rather than create the good” - the politics of faith and the politics of scepticism

Question 44

What did Nozick say about Oakeshotts ideas?

Answer 44

He called them “lazy”

Question 45

What is new right conservatism a mixture of?

Answer 45

Neo-liberalism and neo-conservatism

Question 46

What is anti permissive?

Answer 46

Policies that seek to reverse much of the social liberalism dating from the 1960s.

Question 47

What strand of conservatism did Ayn rand come from?

Answer 47

New right

Question 48

What was Ayn rands novel called?

Answer 48

Atlas shrugged

Question 49

What did Atlas shrugged suggest regarding individuals?

Answer 49

That individuals’s energy made a society and without it a society would quickly wither

Question 50

What is atomism?

Answer 50

Relates to the view that human beings seek autonomy and “space”, which therefore leads to only a vague sense of society. Conservatives traditionally reject this view. However, new right are much more atomistic in their view of human nature and society

Question 51

What did rand view regarding social policy?

Answer 51

She defended individuals rights to choose in areas such as abortion and homosexuality

Question 52

What did new right conservative Barry Goldwater say in the 1964 election regarding the state?

Answer 52

“The small state is the string state”

Question 53

What was Nozicks key book called?

Answer 53

“Anarchy, state and utopia”

Question 54

What did Nozick believe was the biggest threat to individual liberty?

Answer 54

Growth of the government

Question 55

What was Nozicks view on human nature?

Answer 55

Positive and optimistic, egotistical.

Question 56

What was Nozicks view in tax and the quote he said about it?

Answer 56

Sceptical - “tax, for the most part, is theft”

Question 57

What did Nozick believe would be created as a result of a small state?

Answer 57

Self sufficient communities that would be free to practice their own moral codes

Question 58

Nozicks view on human nature, state, society and the economy?

Answer 58

- Human nature - egotistical - State - minarchist state should outsource resources to private companies - society - geared towards individual self fulfilment - economy - small state shipped detach its self from the economy

Question 59

What is Rands view on human nature, the state, society and the economy?

Answer 59

- Human nature - objectivist, guided by rational self interest - state - confine its self to just law order and security - society - its atomistic - economy - free market capitalism