Conservatism Flashcards
Emphasis on continuity, respect for what is customary, suspicion of change (especially on a large scale), revolutionary change is systematic and violent.
Traditionalism
Skepticism about political knowledge. Some individuals can figure out how society and the state works, and use that knowledge to improve things. Wisdom from inherited institutions is better than presupposed knowledge.
Traditionalism
Organic conception of society and the state. Societies are living things, formed by social institutions.
Traditionalism
Individuals are not independent and autonomous. We can’t resist injustice. We are part of something living, larger, and entitled to respect.
Traditionalism
For rational justification of transparency, against superstition and tradition.
Liberals
Suspicious of reason, favor sentiment over scrutiny. We are emotional creatures, and we shouldn’t investigate too deeply. Don’t question.
Conservatives
Human beings are flawed. Against the idea of perfectibility of man.
Classical conservatives
There is a natural hierarchy. Against equality in a social/political sense because the natural hierarchy is justifiable and inevitable.
Classical conservatives
For small government, free market capitalism, the need for a strong military, and state imposition.
Contemporary conservatives
Unthinking man’s thinking man.
Edmund Burke
Was in favour of conciliation with the Americans instead of stubborn resistance, war and separation. Wanted to restores the colonies’ ancient liberties.
Edmund Burke
Most famous for his criticism of the French Revolution 1789 as a reckless attempt at radical social transformation.
Edmund Burke
He wanted to stop “the rock” from spreading.
Edmund Burke
Burke predicted what would happen when the rule of law broke down as a result of the revolution:
The church would be destroyed, the monarch would be executed, the Terror, order would be restored by a dictator, lawlessness and the desire for revenge
Burke was against the revolutionaries ideological views of:
Human nature, society, freedom, and government
Burke believed the humans are: instead of of rational self interested calculators of happiness.
Creatures of habit, custom, and tradition
True or false: Burke believed humans were perfectible but not changeable.
False. He believed we were neither. Social engineering is a liberal, radical, revolutionary project.
He referred to perfectibility by changing institutions as the “crooked timber of humanity”.
Kant
True or false: Burke emphasized the idea of the atomistic individual.
False. Burke was against this idea, and emphasized the isolation of individuals.
According to the conception of society, individuals are not free, independent, and autonomous, rather dependent on a web of relationships or the:
Organic, social fabric
He referred to the liberal legalistic business like the social contract as “harmful social fiction”
Burke
Society is not created by our: therefore, we should adapt to society, society shouldn’t adapt to us.
Consent
A sacred inter-generational covenant, otherwise known as a: can’t be met within a single generation. We owe to those before us, now, and those to come.
Partnership in all virtue
True or false: Burke thought that freedom was always good.
False. He argued that it depends on how we use it, based on what people are likely to do with it when they get it.
According to Burke, these were a dangerous, intellectual abstractions. Rights are concrete, ancient liberties that come from tradition,
Universal natural rights
Ordered liberty should act in accordance with: There are no natural rights anyone can follow without context.
Society’s laws and traditions
What is Burke’s modern definition of revolution?
Ongoing, violent, unpredictable transformation in which the whole society changes
Why did classical conservatives think revolution to be mistaken?
It tries to rip up social institutions by the roots and start anew. Any attempt to do so always leads to unforeseen consequences.
According to classical conservatives, reform is good if it is:
Careful, gradual, and recognizes the complexity of society
According to classical conservatives, political change always has to take place within this: like the American Revolution.
Tradition
Burke preferred this to abstract reason:
Prejudice, prejudgment
Burke suggested that each individual has a private stock of this: but this is only one small part of society’s larger bank and capital of ages.
Reason
Burke invented the modern idea of these: a boy of people united on a single view of the public interest, who has a view of the common good.
Political parties
According to Burke, government should have reflective, responsible representatives/trustees who prefer this above this. They owe their intelligence and wisdom.
Their own judgment, the people’s opinion
Burke believed in these: repositories of collective wisdom, secondary associations of the state like family and the church that made ordered liberty possible and helped people learn obedience.
Little platoons
Because Burke believed those with property have a stake in society, he naturally believed in the:
Natural aristocracy
True or false: Burke believed power should be concentrated in one place, and there is a natural ruling class in all.
False. He did believe there was a natural ruling class, but power should not be concentrated in one place.
Reactionaries appeal to the authority of God and the re-institution of:
Absolute monarchical power
De Maistre argued that we need to go back and recognize these two institutions:
The throne and the altar
According to De Maistre, if we do not recognize these two things necessary for society’s survival, we leave people with nothing to hold sacred; a recipe for disaster.
The monarchy and the Catholic church
De Maistre argued that people deserved whatever happened to them if they did this:
Questioned authority
He believed that authority should be absolute, mysterious, and terrifying.
De Maistre
According to De Maistre, authority appeals to: not our reason.
Our will
According to De Maistre, humans never respect this: Therefore, he was against Enlightenment rationality, and people taking responsibility for themselves.
What they have made themselves
“In the works of man everything is as wretched as their author” Who said it?
De Maistre
De Maistre proposed that there was no such thing as this:
Man
De Maistre praised this: to follow what is customary and put there by law.
Instinct
This image, according to De Maistre, was the ultimate guarantee of civil obedience. It instills fear and respect.
The executioner
What are Hirschman’s 3 types of objections to revolutionary change?
- perversity - the proposed action will produce contrary of the objective, any attempt at large scale change will fail
- futility - any attempt to change is useless, what you are trying to introduce won’t change anything
- jeopardy - new reform endangers older, higher moral value, this is an unacceptable cost
The classical conservative view that humans put their own desires and self interests above others, otherwise known as:
The original sin
Classical conservatives are for this type of government and economic system:
A strong government, laissez faire capitalism
They thought the government to be a necessary evil.
Classical conservatives
Why were classical conservatives against democracy?
Voting is for the short term, not long term interests, thus it would be irresponsible to broaden the franchise.
This opened politics in society to a wider range of views.
The conservative reaction
In Pope Pius’ Syllabus of Errors, he argued that human reason requires this to help discover truth and promote human welfare.
God’s help
This document argued that the Catholic religion is the only true religion of the state.
The Syllabus of Errors
He denied church-state separation and the liberal idea of toleration. The Pope didn’t need to come to terms with liberal ideas.
Pope Pius IX
In Pope Pius’ Syllabus of Errors, he rejected central liberal claims such as:
Progress, applying reason to social problems, and civil law
The main figures of this type of conservatism were literary poets like Wordsworth and Coleridge.
Cultural conservatism
Cultural conservatives rejected this change in the 1st half of the 19th century. People were initially happy to see changes but had become disillusioned.
The Industrial Revolution
Cultural conservatives emphasized this over this. They believed there was a misplaced confidence in rational capacities.
Emotion over reason
These conservatives wanted to go back to the “golden age” of simple, rural, communal life, and the natural hierarchy; a romanticized, idealized past.
Cultural conservatives
Cultural conservatives though this to be dehumanizing and alienating. The world was changing fast but for the worst. They were critical of this type of culture.
Industry, mechanistic
Cultural conservatives reject this, as it destroys culture and spirituality. We are not market actors.
Industrial capitalism
Cultural conservatives worried about this: They rejected the pursuit of profit and material wealth.
Commercial activity
“Little we see in nature that is ours” Who said it?
John Stuart Mill
Coolridge was against the rise of cities, and these because they pointed to the world we have lost.
Clocks
In the 19th century, the liberals/bourgeoisie were referred to as these: and the land owning aristocracy referred to as these:
Whigs, Tories
The electoral strategy Ben Disraeli used to attract support from the working class by addressing working class needs like legislation to improve working conditions.
Tory democracy
He encouraged the working class to support and respect the monarchy and church to quell a socialist revolution/working class revolt.
Ben Disraeli
In the US, this strand of conservatism rejects the Enlightenment emphasis on the perfectibility of human beings and the harmful effects of capitalism.
Cultural conservatives
In the US, this strand of conservatives defend liberal social and laissez faire capitalism
Economic conservatives
Economic conservatives started to refer to these as free market conservatives.
Industrialists
They rejected the push towards a liberal democratic welfare state.
Economic conservatives
In the 20th century, conservatives began to distrust this because it leads to chaos and dictatorship instead of ordered hierarchy.
Democracy
In the 20th century, conservatives thought these to be ignorant and unrestrained. They have short term appetite satisfaction.
The masses
In the 20th century, conservatives thought government should be trusted to these people. We need experienced, capable rulers like Plato suggested.
The elite
Conservatives and communists disagree about this. Conservatives point out how humans are selfish, short sighted, etc. while communists believe social problems arise from changeable institutions, and are too optimistic about changing them.
Progress
Conservatives and communists disagree about this. Conservatives think people are sinners, improvable only by cautious change. Communists think this is a false view.
Perfectibility
Conservatives and communists disagree about this. Conservatives are suspicious of plans to improve/reform society, because it requires the concentration of power and leads to this, like the communist Soviet Union.
Planning, despotism
Michael Oakeshott argued that we don’t fit into things as individuals with rights, rather we are interconnected and dependent. Politics is attending to these:
Social arrangements
According to Oakeshott this is destructive, we aren’t to rip out the plant by the roots, we have to tend to it still.
Radical action
Richard Posner’s economic conservatives were for this type of government and economic system. They supported rugged individualism.
Small government, free market with low taxes
True or false: economic conservatives believed people should defend on the state from support.
False. They believed people should be independent, and we should let the market chips fall where they may.
How were economic conservatives considered liberal as well?
They defended freedom to compete without government interference.
Following Posner’s model, these conservatives were for a foreign policy dominated by a power military, rejected liberal internationalism, and though the attempt to dominate justified spending.
Security conservatives
Security conservatives thought this type of war was needed, along with regime change, and the fight against terrorism.
Preemptive war
These conservatives aimed to model the world after US free market capitalism by “taking the battle to the enemy”
Security conservatives
These conservatives were for bringing Christian morality back into politics, and rejected the separation of church and state.
Social/religious
Why were social/religious conservatives called economic liberals and cultural interventionists?
They wanted to take the state out of the economy but were involved in culture. They promoted the rights of gun owners but were anti abortionists.
“I’m from the government and I’m here to help” Who said it?
Ronald Reagan
“Government is not the solution, it is the problem” Who said it?
Ronald Reagan
This conservative in power thought we should deregulate, privatize, and let market decide.
Reagan
“There is no such thing as society” Who said it?
Margaret Thatcher
This conservative in power thought that it wasn’t the state’s job to give handouts.
Thatcher
Thatcher thought spending for this should be cut, but spending on this should be increased.
Health/welfare, military
Reagan and Thatcher could also be considered this type of conservative:
Security
According to Freeden, all conservatives are anxious about change, and promote this instead:
Safe change
According to Freeden, the social order is insulated from this: There is not much we as human agents can do to change social order because God, nature, history and tradition stand in the way.
Human control
De Maistre thought these were dangerous because they expressed government weakness.
Written constitutions
20th century conservatives were against this, and argued that it does not free people from oppressive social conditions.
Leveling
What is the explanation function of conservatism?
Human imperfection. Things go wrong when people overestimate their capabilities.
What is the evaluation function of conservatism?
Social peace and stability of the social fabric. If it is torn it needs to be repaired.
What is the orientation function of conservatism?
Everyone acts with the good of the whole society in mind.
What is the program function of conservatism?
Take things slow, proceed carefully, and conserve what we have.
Who is the agent for conservatism?
The individual
What are the obstacles for conservatism?
Laws, customs, conditions that block individual choice
What is the goal for conservatism?
To live as one chooses
