Conservative Key Thinkers

Question 1

When did Thomas Hobbes live?

Answer 1

16th-17th Century (his work was all post-civil war)

Question 2

What was Thomas Hobbes’ key belief?

Answer 2

Any sort of authority is better than no authority as humans have no ability to be independent

Question 3

What was Thomas Hobbes’ book? What did he write about

Answer 3

Leviathan (1651).

• He wrote about how we must accept and obey all authority (no matter how imperfect) just to protect society from chaos.
• He also wrote about the “state of nature” and how in early human history there was no authority and life was short and brutal and therefore humans willingly formed governments because they needed order and authority.
• Anti-social contract theory, only excuse for people to depose of their rulers was if they threatened to kill their subjects

Question 4

When did Ayn Rand live?

Answer 4

20th Century

Question 5

What did Ayn Rand believe?

Answer 5

• Altruism (selflessness) and asking for help is immoral, people should pursue their own happiness as their highest moral aim, collectivism and working for the group is bad.
• People have a duty to work hard to achieve a life of purpose and productivity.
• Gov’t just exists to protect personal freedoms
• Objectivism is her philosophy (fulfilling your own objectives)
• NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANYONE ELSE
• Pure laissez faire economics

Question 6

When did Robert Noziek live

Answer 6

1938-2002 (mainly 20th Century)

Question 7

What did Robert Nozick believe in?

Answer 7

• A ‘ nightwatchman state’ where gov’t only protects property and security
• No taxation
• Individuals in society can’t be treated as a thing or used for others or the state
• Individuals own their bodies, talents, abilities and labour

Question 8

What did Robert Nozick write?

Answer 8

‘The tale of a slave’

Question 9

When did Edmund Burke live?

Answer 9

19th Century (Ireland)

Question 10

What did Edmund Burke believe in?

Answer 10

• Drawing from the past and traditional institutions of power
• Evolution not revolution (pragmatism)
• Analogy: worn down house is burnt down by angry crowd, rebuild the house in the same was but stronger. Don’t change the original building.
• Tradition must be passed from generation to generation

Question 11

What revolution shaped Burke’s beliefs?

Answer 11

The French Revolution and the tyrannical government that came out of it

Question 12

When did Michael Oakeshott live?

Answer 12

20th Century Britain

Question 13

What one thing did Oakeshott favour above all else?

Answer 13

Pragmatism

Question 14

What did Michael Oakeshott believe?

Answer 14

• The conservative disposition is “to prefer the familiar to the unknown, to prefer the tired to the untried… (and) the actual to the possible”
• There are two major modes of understandings of social organisation (enterprise association and civil association)

Question 15

What were the two major modes of understandings of social organisation that Oakeshott believed in?

Answer 15

Enterprise association: State is imposing a universal purpose on its subjects (profit, racial domination…)

Civil association: Primarily a legal relationship in which laws impose obligatory conditions of action. Based upon a faith in the ability of humans to grasp a universal good whereas the other is based on a scepticism about the ability of humans to either ascertain or achieve good

Question 16

What are common criticisms of Burke and Oakeshott?

Answer 16

They sell short the possibility of political progress

Question 17

Who are the 5 conservative thinkers? What type of conservative are they?

Answer 17

• Thomas Hobbes (Traditional)
• Edmund Burke (ONC)
• Michael Oakeshott (ONC)
• Ayn Rand (New Right)
• Robert Nozick (New Right)

Question 18

What were two key works of Oakeshott?

Answer 18

• “On being conservative” (conservative beliefs)

- “On human conduct” (two major understandings of social organisation)