Conservatism

Question 1

Thomas Hobbes

Answer 1

• traditional (but came before)
• important for human nature and role of state
• human imperfection
• strong state to prevent and control conflict and control state of nature
• strong state = leviathan
• “every man against every man”
• “life in the state of nature is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short”
• without restraints of formal authority, relations between human beings would be marked with “envy hatred and war”

Question 2

Edmund Burke

Answer 2

• traditional (created)
• mentioned for everything
• (“Reflection On The French Revolution”)
• Tradition and empiricism
• outlined tradition, pragmatism, cautious to change, human imperfection, organic society and hierarchy
• “change in order to conserve” but also “a state without the means of some change is without means of its conservation”
• “society is indeed a contract…a partnership between those who are living, those who are dead, and those who are yet to be born”.
• need for Oder in society and “little platoons” to provide individuals with security and status. Crucial to guide humans and prevent imperfection being destructive.
• ‘a state without the means of some change is without the means of its conservation’

Question 3

Michael Oakeshott

Answer 3

• traditional (very important)
• pragmatism - political action guided by practical knowledge
• “ to be conservative then is to prefer the familiar to the unknown, the tried to the untried, fact to mystery, the actual to the possible …convenient to the perfect”.
• “men sail a boundless and bottomless sea… to keep afloat on an even keel”
• “what has stood the test of time is good and must not be lightly cast aside”
• human behaviour = “noisy, foolish, and flawed” but can be “benign and benevolent”

Question 4

Ayn Rand

Answer 4

• new right
• neoliberalism
• advocate for individualism and capitalism
• laissez faire economy
• personal and economic freedom
• objectivism - rational self interest - The Virtue Of Selfishness “ the man who attempts to live for others os a dependent. He is a parasite in motive and makes parasites of those he serves”
• against dependency

Question 5

Robert Nozick

Answer 5

• new right
• libertarianism and laissez faire capitalism with minimal state to prevent right infringement
• self ownership - individual sovereignty over fruits of labour.
• “freedom-loving pack animals”
• “no state more extensive than the minimal state can be justified”
• no redistribution
• self ownership, Individual sovereignty, property rights

Question 6

Disraeli

Answer 6

• one nation
• conservative PM in late 19th century
• paternalism and no less oblique
• state and upper class responsible for lower class
• ‘ palace is not safe if the cottage is not happy’
• cohesive society
• counter class division