Conservatism Flashcards
Burke on society (2):
-society is “a partnership between those who are living , those who are dead and those yet to be born”
-society is organised in “little platoons”
Burke of the state (2):
-there is a “natural aristocracy”
-“a state without the means of some change is without the means of its own conservation”
Burke on human nature (2);
-“the individual is foolish…but the species is wise”
-“there is a chasm between our desire and our achievement”
Burke on the economy (2):
-humans have a “love of lucre” (i guess kinda human nature too)
-the market creates “degrading, unseemly, unmanly conditions but they are better than if “the natural course of things” was disturbed”
Hobbes on man nature (4):
-we seek “power after power”
-state of nature is “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short”
-“Vain glorious”
-state of nature is a “war of everyone against everyone”
Hobbes on the state (2):
-his “leviathan” argues for a strong authoritarian ruler
-“it is not wisdom but authority that makes a law”
Oakeshott on human nature (7);
-“we have an innate fear of the uncertain”
-the political world is “boundless and bottomless” (too complex for us to understand with out psychological imperfection)
-preference for “the familiar to the unknown”
-“my theme is not a creed or a doctrine, but a disposition” (pragmatic)
-conservatism is to be “disposed to make certain choices”
-conservatism is a “psychology, not an ideology”
-“humans are imperfect but not immoral” they are “benign and benevolent” when given the right moral choices
Rand on the economy (2):
-“radical for capitalism”
-“i am not primarily an advocate of capitalism, but of egoism… i am not primarily and advocate of egoism but of reason”
Rand on human nature (3):
-“the best is a matter of standards, and i set my own standards. I inherit nothing” (from the fountainhead)
-“One may do things…for his own pleasure. This is not immoral, but the highest of morality”
-“man is a being of self-made soul”
Nozick on the state (2);
-endorsed the idea of monarchism (night watchman state)
-“welfare is on a par with forced labour”
Nozick on human nature (1):
-“rationality defines the distance we have come form mere animality”
Thatcher on society (3);
-return to “Victorian values”
-“consensus seems to be the process for abandoning all beliefs, principles, values and policies”
-“there is not such thing as society”
Thatcher on the state (1);
“Crime is a crime is a crime, not politics” (reaction to permissive society so stronger law and order)
Gilmour on human nature/conservative thinking/ pragmatism
“The use conservative travels light”
De Maistre on the state (2);
-absolutism and submission to the pope (du pape) as “the master”
-“all subordination to authority rests on the executioner. He is the horror and bond of human association”
