Conservatism Flashcards
What is the core conservative view of human nature?
Humans are fallible and flawed:
> Psychologically – want to feel safe and know role in society rather than paralysing freedom of choice
> Morally – people will always prove to be as selfish and greedy as we believe others to be, so need strong system of law and order to restrain impulses
>Intellectually – may believe our actions are rational but we are often influenced but irrational impulses and fail to see complicated reality of the world
• Their belief in human imperfection draws upon the Old Testament doctrine of original sin
- Descriptive not prescriptive - don’t focus on how humans could be
- Rejects malleable view of human nature (socialist) and idea that given the correct ‘environment’ humanity can be remoulded
- Politicians should accommodate this reality not alter it
How can tradition help the flaws in human nature?
Psychological - Long-lasting traditions remind us that despite the potential chaos of the world, it is unlikely to be radically altered soon
Moral - National myths, conventions etc. which we respect because they are so well established, are as important as criminal laws in maintaining order
Intellectual - If we weren’t grounded by the fact that we’ve inherited an evolving system which we must pass on, and instead designed a new constitution which appealed on a rational level but lacked the history of our current uncodified, evolving one, would we have the same commitment to it? Would -ve impulses be as contained, or would the knowledge that we are the first to be bound by it make us want to overturn it
How does a belief in a flawed human nature lead to a belief in the need for a strong state?
o A higher authority needs power to establish and enforce laws to create order and stability that truly makes us free
o Stronger police enforcement and longer prison sentences as human nature will best respond to firm deterrent
What is civil society?
variety of groups that exist between govt. and family, from voluntary organisations to church groups, clubs, businesses
What is the importance of civil society to conservatives?
o libertarians believe most important groups are non-govt., voluntary not coercive
o flawed humans need to be tempered by civil society
o in ‘little platoons’ of family, clubs etc we learn to take responsibility and appreciate duties we have to others, learn to check disruptive impulses, learn about tradition
o because we voluntarily join and they are local and often include family, friends and neighbours, they can influence more than distant bureaucrats –> state can coerce us to behave by enforcing the law, character, responsibility and morals can’t be declared by state; relationship with bureaucrats will always be one of coercion
• the more functions the state takes on, the more voluntary groups die out and with them go the important local ties that remind us that with rights comes social responsibility and as people become used to state provision, they become more dependent and more atomised
Did Hobbes believe political order was natural or man-made?
Man-made - result of human effort of art
Doesn’t reflect hierarchies in nature
What was Hobbes’ view of the state of nature? How does it relate to his view of human nature?
- humans are naturally atomised, competitive, selfish, driven by fear and desire
- life is ‘solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short… a war of all against all’
- humans are material beings, trapped by their fears and incapable of stable commerce or social life without a power to govern them
- humans as ‘matter in motion’ (mechanical materialism)
- natural humans are roughly equal ‘in the faculties and body and mind’
- Hobbes’ denied natural hierarchy of men over women, strong over weak etc. and said differences in capacity are randomly distributed
- humans are equal in their possession of raw power
- political order is not natural, but it is necessary to take humans out of the state of nature
- Humans had a cold rationality which would eventually lead individuals to form a contract, which would in turn lead to a formal state - rational calculations and achieving satisfactory outcomes v unconservative
How and why did Hobbes’ believe we left the state of nature?
- state of nature could return - that is what had happened during Civil War
- the impulses driving us to exit the state of nature are a fear of death and a desire for commodious living
- we leave the state of nature by agreement - we create sovereignty through a contract
What is Hobbes’ view of state power?
- Sovereign needs absolute power to create stable and free society -Secular defence of existing order
- the sovereign is not party to the contract but is created by it
- the actions of the sovereign are attributable to all those that make up the polity (popular sovereignty) - doesn’t make sense for subjects to accuse the sovereign of injustice
- sovereigns could not have financial resources constrained by parliaments, had complete power over judicial decisions, decide on war and peace, dissolve parliaments
- once the social contract had transferred rights t sovereign, the sovereign will determines the definition of good and evil
- sovereigns could not be tried according to the law
- division of sovereignty between different jurisdictions was a doctrine tending to sedition
- sovereignty could not be mixed between different holders of authority at the centre e.g. monarch and parliament - this was just set of independent factions, vying for individual sovereignty
- all aspects of religious life subordinated to sovereign
- disallowed dualism of temporal and spiritual authority - if an entity existed in the commonwealth that could give eternal judgements (i.e. heaven and hell) its power would be greater than that of the sovereign (independent churches are threats)
How did Hobbes’ view of the state relate to the context of the Civil War?
- thought the Civil War showed the necessity of absolute monarchy and the danger of liberal ideas of natural rights, individual judgement, and limited govt. - feared challenging absolute power of sovereign would plunge nation back into natural state of war
- Charles I was defensive of his prerogative rights to collect revenue, dispense justice, govern the Church and parliament attempted to assert its constitutional capacity to check this power
What was Hobbes’ view of the nature of the state?
• individual rights depend on law and order
LEVIATHAN:
>Leviathan is his metaphor for the state, which he describes as an ‘artificial man’
>sovereignty is an ‘artificial soul’ which gives it life and motion
• sovereign = common single will which represents the will of all - preferably a monarch but could be oligarchy or even democracy
•once under a sovereign, subjects were not able to change its form (= absolutism)
What was Hobbes’ view on liberty?
- rejected civil liberty of republicanism
- definition of liberty in Leviathan is physical - humans are free when they are free of physical impediment (no such thing as birth right)
- humans are material beings with no free will
- civil liberty is the same as physical liberty
- no time for republican ideas like ability to transcend natural wants and desires, participate etc.
- in monarchies and republics, civil liberty could be equal - didn’t have to be able to participate in democratic life, army etc.
- where civil liberties existed, they were gifts of sovereignty - never inalienable rights and could be revoked
How do Hobbes’ views fit in with those of other conservatives?
- his views on obedience and order, his pessimism on progress and human perfectibility fit with some conservative strains
- Nozick and Rand’s libertarianism, interested in harnessing competitive nature of humans, can be seen as Hobbesian
How do Hobbes’ views differ from other conservatives? How may they even be seen as liberal?
> SOCIAL CONTRACT
NO INALIENABLE RIGHTS
POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY
RIGHTS AS GRANTS OF STATE
• didn’t view tradition as a repository (place where things are stored) for political knowledge - for Burke tradition and reverence of the past was part and parcel of conservatism
• some conservatives advocate a natural law to politics and Hobbes redefined the natural law
• many conservatives have been defenders of established religion
• wasn’t a fan of political lessons of antiquity or mixed constitutions
LIBERAL:
> using devices of state of nature and social contract
> viewing individuals as atoms of politics not classes or ranks
> seeing politics as involving some degree of popular sovereignty
> positing some form of individual equality
> understanding politics a s a negotiation of individual interests and rights
> Locke accepts social contract and politics involves surrendering of rights BUT said we had inalienable rights e.g. property
> utilitarians accepted his account of interest and power
> they understood traditional morality as conventional as opposed to universal and foundational
> they were deferential to state authority and understood rights as grants of the state
How did Hobbes’ view of the state relate to the context of the Enlightenment?
- Responded to challenge Enlightenment thinking posed to Divine Right of Kings by proposing new, secular theories of state
- humans not able to contract directly with God• Framed theory in terms of a social contract - authority to rule comes from their people not from above
How did Hobbes’ redefine natural law and natural right?
- ‘good and evil are names that signify our appetites and aversions’ - moral judgements are customary and relative, which is not consistent with traditional natural law thinking
- first natural law: individuals were to seek peace but defend themselves at all costs (do whatever necessary) - no difference between natural law and natural right
- redefined natural right, with no reference to highest good or virtue and instead only one good (self-preservation) - complete self-sovereignty
- right to all things is fundamental in nature but incompatible with order
- second natural law: humans should be willing to surrender their right to all things when others are willing to do the same - they transfer the right to a common entity which becomes the sovereign (all rights except self-defence are surrendered)
What was Hobbes’ view of how sovereignty could be achieved? What was his view of obedience to the state?
- popular sovereignty? – social contract is primitive democratic act
- BUT you don’t have to have an initial democratic act to have sovereignty
- a conqueror could elicit obedience of those they had conquered
- more common for people to become part of a sovereign polity via conquest
- in theory, sovereignty is like democracy but in practice it tends to be through conquest (might = right)
- wherever there was a single will enjoying sufficient power to protect a polity, sovereignty existed and individuals must obey it
- seemed to suggest people should obey conquerors including commonwealth which replaced Charles I - obedience to de factor powers (power where it already existed)
- rejected test of legitimacy beside holding of power – might = right
What was Burke’s view on rationalism? How did this influence his view of society?
- Idea that humans could abstractly deduce unarguable principles and rights to guide decision making was inconsistent with how people behaved in the real world
- Humans more likely to agree over subjective questions (“matters of taste”) rather than on objective ones (“those which depend upon the naked reason”)
- because humans often more united by sentiments than rational matters like rights, society should value institutions that tap into our feelings and desire for continuity and stability
What was Burke’s view of human nature? How did this influence his view of society?
- Idea that humans could abstractly deduce unarguable principles and rights to guide decision making was inconsistent with how people behaved in the real world - i.e. humans not guided mainly by reason
- doubted capacity to think up a perfect rule set and plan a perfect society
- Humans more likely to agree over subjective questions (“matters of taste”) rather than on objective ones (“those which depend upon the naked reason”)
- because humans often more united by sentiments than rational matters like rights, society should value institutions that tap into our feelings and desire for continuity and stability
- didn’t think humans were brutally selfish
- thought we were capable of kindness, altruism and wisdom as long as their actions were rooted in tradition and Christianity
- human nature is naturally communal and we gain comfort and support from the small communities (‘little platoons’ around us
What was Burke’s view on change?
- Prejudice in favour in long-standing traditions and sceptical of ideas that clash with customs that have worked for generations
- Revolutionaries were substituting existing prejudices for personal prejudices, which are presented as rational and objective but still based on personal views, subject to influence from irrational impulses
- “a state without the means of some change is without the means of its conservation”
- reform based on ‘prejudice’ is good, but innovation based on a priori, abstract proposals, a hypothesis rather than an experiment is bad
- method of change = prescription - political reform should factor in longstanding custom as well as present day laws; society is like a living organism, and so institutions and habits should adapt to changing circumstances just like living creatures do
- change should be based on empiricism and tradition not theory or idealism
How does Burke’s support for reforms to longstanding institutions fit with his conservative views? What kind of reforms?
- efforts to push through reforms to longstanding institutions which were always designed to preserve them for years to come
- e.g. wanting to reduce wasteful spending on royal family, cutting unnecessary jobs which benefited their friends as Burke felt that the entire institution might be threatened if they were left unaddressed
Why did Burke believe the French Revolution happened?
• French revolution was due to French aristocracy’s failure to govern in the interests of all
Why did Burke criticise the French Revolution?
- Criticised French revolution as revolutionaries were trying to wipe the slate clean overthrowing the aristocracy and the church and erase longstanding institutions and conventions and build an entirely new order built on ‘philosophical abstractions’
- feared that with old order erased, calls for liberty, equality and fraternity wouldn’t be enough to reign in darker side of human nature and wasn’t surprised when protest led to riots, murder of king and queen and later of revolutionaries as rival factions turned against each other
- denounced idealistic society that it represented claiming it was based on a utopian, unrealistic view of human nature - mankind is fallible and tends to fail
Why did Burke praise the American Revolution?
- Praised American revolution as revolutionaries wanted to preserve their way of life, opposing unprecedented taxes imposed by UK parliament
- parliament was choosing theory over prescription, using taxation powers because they were legal not cautiously because they were the best way to preserve the longstanding relationship
- American colonists didn’t draft completely new constitution, instead it was rooted in English common law tradition that they had inherited and the order they had previously enjoyed
What was Burke’s view of the structure of society? (aristocracy, meritocracy, roles etc.)
How is this reflected in his view of the role of MPs?
HIERARCHY
• more supportive of hierarchy and sceptical of equality of opportunity
• society works according to a “fixed compact sanctioned by the inviolable oath which holds all physical and all moral natures each in their appointed place”
• thought there was scope for a limited number of talented individuals like him to work their way up to positions of influence on merit - “everything ought to be open, but not indifferently to every man”
NATURAL ARISTOCRACY
> individuals best suited to lead country due to birth, inheritance, upbringing, and education
> people are born equal (not more gifted) but also equally flawed
> “the savage hath within him the seeds of… the statesman… yet, through want of culture, and exercise, must lie forever buried”> only those born into upper classes who received best available education, had leisure time to think and study and who learned the manners and duties expected of rulers were based able to overcome innate flaws and rule in national interest
> just as parents have authority, provide protection and make decisions for their children, so should the elite direct the rest of society and make decisions in national interest with or without consent of those effected
• society is like a living organism that depends on healthy relationships between different parts which perform different but equally important functions (HOBBES TALKED ABOUT HUMANS AS MACHINES)
–> just like the heart can’t do the job of the brain, so too might those born into a working role be less suited to lead than those born into the position
MPs
> Trustee model of representation - experienced, educated and informed MPs should consider constituents’ views but exercise their own judgment in parliament; should vote in national interest even if it conflicts with views of constituents
WEB OF OBLIGATIONS/DUTY
• humans are not isolated individuals but are connected by a web of obligations and duty
LITTLE PLATOONS
• collection of localised communities (little platoons) which curb selfishness and give us security, inspiration etc. –> localism (local ties)
What was Burke’s view on freedom?
- being attached to the “little platoon” we belong to is the “first link” to a love for our country and mankind - freedom comes from accepting and being free to perform your specific role in the organism of society
- said there’s never been a time when we were simply individuals with complete freedom
What was Burke’s view of democracy?
- thought there should be competing institutions like the Lords to restrain impulses of masses
- “in a democracy, the majority of the citizens is capable of exercising the most cruel oppressions upon the minority”
- Natural aristocracy= were more likely to create policies in national interests than a democracy where any action could be justified if backed by a majority
What was Burke’s view on redistribution?
- equality of outcome was a “monstrous fiction”
- “in a fair distribution among a vast multitude none can have much”
- redistribution would create equality but in the form of “equal want”, leaving the poorest classes without the aristocracy organic society needed to invest, create jobs, provide leadership and protect traditions
- one of the wealthy’s duties was charity - “duty on all Christians” but the “manner, mode, time, choice of objects and proportion are left to private discretion”
- agreed with Smith’s economic views
- state intervention to help the poor would disrupt the efficient invisible hand of the market, discourage work and threaten the health of the organic society
- warned against breaking “the laws of commerce, which are the laws of nature and consequently the laws of God”
What was Burke’s view on the economy?
- natural for people to desire greater wealth and the markets that naturally resulted should be left to operate freely
- free market suited Burke’s scepticism of abstract ideas - if humans are flawed and incapable of devising perfect abstract schemes, it would be impossible for the state to plan an economy (govt. and economy have a mysterious dynamism vigorous activity/progress)
- rising and falling prices sent more efficient signals than a rational individual or committee
- better to have a system that turns the self-interested decisions of individuals into an efficient system of signals that make the most of our flawed, selfish nature and produces outcomes that benefit others
- hierarchy is natural and state shouldn’t intervene to disrupt it
- as disruptive as market forces can be, they arguably create own order by preventing wages or prices from rising or falling too much
- agreed with Adam Smith’s economic views
What was Burke’s view on property rights?
- property = natural, god given right
- as important for stability and order as respect for tradition and prescription
- the right to own property provides the necessary incentives to work, save, invest and create jobs etc.
- ability to pass on and inherit property reinforced sense of long-term stability and enables existence natural aristocracy
- checks our irrational impulses – we respect the property rights of others so they will do the same, creating order and peace
