Conservatism key thinkers

Question 1

Thomas Hobbes

Answer 1

Human Nature:
- cynical: individuals are selfish, driven by a restless and ruthless desire for supremacy and security
- human nature is needy and vulnerable to committing destructive acts
- every person has different morals
- human nature not wholly irrational

State:
- the state arises ‘contractually’ from individuals who seek order and security
- to serve its purpose, the state must be autocratic and awesome
- without a state there would be uncertainty and war due to individuals’ different morals

Society:
- there can be no ‘society’ until the creation of a state brings order and authority to human affairs
- life until then is ‘nasty, brutish and short’
- no natural rights prior to the state due to there being no cooperation or voluntary arrangements between individuals

Economy:
- constructive and enduring economic activity is impossible without a state guaranteeing order and security

Wrote Leviathan (1651)

Question 2

Edmund Burke

Answer 2

Human Nature:
- Sceptical: the ‘crooked timber of Humanity’ is marked by a gap between inspiration and achievement
- we may conceive of perfection but we are unable to achieve it

State:
- the state arises organically and should be aristocratic, driven by a hereditary elite, reared to rule in the interests of all

Society:
- society is organic and multi-faceted, compromising a host of small communities and organisations (‘little platoons’)
- these would acknowledge, nurture and prune… the crooked timber of humanity
- with all ‘organic’ societies, a ruling class is inevitable and desirable
- ruling class has a clear obligation to rule in the interests of all
- both society and government are more akin to a plant than a machine

Economy:
- trade should involve ‘organic’ free markets and laissez-faire capitalism

Wrote reflections on the revolution in France (1790)

Question 3

Michael Oakeshott

Answer 3

Human Nature:
- Modest - humanity is at its best when free from grand designs and when focused on the routines of everyday life
- Humans are imperfect

State:
- the state should be guided by tradition and practical concerns
- Pragmatism, not dogmatism, should be its watchword

Society:
- Localised communities are essential to humanity’s survival, especially when guided by short-term requirements rather than abstract ideas
- society is unpredictable

Economy:
- free markets are volatile and unpredictable, and may require pragmatic moderation by the state

Wrote On Being Conservative (1962)

Question 4

Benjamin Disraeli

Answer 4

Human Nature
- social classes were part of the same ‘family’
- denial of liberal atomism
- ‘noblesse oblige’ - being a member of the aristocracy was not just about entitlements but also about responsibilities to those less fortunate

Society:
- importance of the nation
- embracing class differences, fostering unity
- the nation is the essence of the status quo
- societal and political progress could be achieved harmoniously without class war and revolution
- ‘organic’ society
- hierarchy is inevitable
- ‘natural hierarchy’
- supports paternalism

State:
- all classes have a vested interest in defending the nation state
- endorsed state sponsored social reforms
- top-down policy to help working class
- pragmatism

Economy
- tempered effects of laissez-faire capitalism on behalf of the nations working classes
- consequences of laissez -faire capitalism are a concern for all

Question 5

Freidrich Hayek

Answer 5

Human Nature:
- humans should work within the framework of the law
- humans are limited in ability to plan the economy

Society:
- limited gov to allow order to arise spontaneously in society
- the foundations of law are common rules of conduct that predate gov
- atomistic

State:

Economy
- Free markets to respond to individual needs
- a free market matches supply and demand

Question 6

Robert Nozick

Answer 6

Human Nature:
- egoistical: individuals are driven by a quest for ‘self-ownership’, allowing them to realise their full potential
- individuals have self-ownership

Society:
- society should be geared to individual self-fulfilment
- this may lead to a plethora of small, variable communities reflecting their members’ diverse tastes and philosophies
- rights are side constraints - they may not be sacrificed or used for the achieving of other ends without their consent

State:
- the minarchist state should merely outsource, renew and reallocate contracts to private companies providing public services

Economy:
- the minarchist state should detach itself from a privatised and deregulated economy, merely arbitrating disputes between private economic organisations
- tax for the most part is theft
- distributive justice - argues that these debates encourage the misleading idea that resources exist in a single pot, ready to be handed out once the fairest, most just method has been found

Question 7

Ayn Rand

Answer 7

Human Nature:
- ‘Objectivist’: we are and ought to be guided by rational self-interest and the pursuit of self-fulfilment
- everyone has a moral code - a guide to right and wrong that directs our decision making each day
- opposed to the idea of people acquiring their morals unthinkingly, without rational thought of their own
- disliked altruism
- ethical egoism - it is moral for individuals to act in their own self-interest

Society:
- in so far as it exists at all, society is atomistic; the mere some of total of its individuals
- any attempt to restrict individuals in the name of society should be challenged

State:
- the state should confine itself to law, order and national security
- any attempt to promote ‘positive liberty’ via further state intervention should be resisted

Economy:
- free market capitalism is an expression of ‘objectivist’ individualism and should not be hindered by the state

Question 8

Irvine Kristol

Answer 8

Human Nature:
- public morality of concern

Society:
- ‘organic’ societies - look to strengthen community by restoring authority and imposing social discipline
- social order and public morality
- rising crime and ant-social behaviour generally are a consequence of a larger decline in authority
- family is an authority system - naturally hierarchical and patriarchal
- moral pluralism is threatening as it undermines the cohesion of society
- avoiding a permissive society - lacking ethical norms and unifying moral standards
- common culture and civic identity binds society together
- multi-culturalism is the most significant threat to the nation

State:
- rolling back of the state’s economic responsibility
- strong state for law and order