Key Thinkers Flashcards

Question

Michael Oakeshott (1901 - 90) views on society

Answer 1

modern society is unpredictable and complex so cannot be understood in terms of abstract principles, theories or ideologies

Answer 2

politics can only be successfully conducted if it accommodates existing traditions, customs and practices

Answer 3

“The office of government is not to impose other beliefs and activities upon its subjects, not to tutor or educate them, not to make them better or happier in another way, not to direct them… the office of government is merely to rule”

Answer 4

Russian born American philosopher, novelist and conservative influenced by the rise of facism and communism in the 20th century which led her to reconsider the role of the state in the lives of individuals famous works - The Fountainhead (1943), Atlas Shrugged (1957) key ideas... the state the economy human nature

Answer 5

any attempt to control or regulate an individual’s actions corrupts their capacity to work freely as a productive member of society as it undermines their practical use of reason rejected government welfare and wealth redistribution programmes – she believed the state relies on the implicit threat of force to ensure that people contribute to such schemes through taxation e.g. there are punishments for not paying tax which forces people to do so even if they do not want to, thus restricting their individual freedom

Answer 6

opposed external coercion of the individual, known as the ‘non-aggression principle’ – explains why she rejected government welfare paid for by taxation the state has absolutely no role to play in the economy unrestricted expression of human rationality is entirely compatible with the free market

Answer 7

advocated a libertarian philosophical system that emphasised rational self-interest and maintains that individual freedom supports a laissez-faire capitalist economy the state has absolutely no role to play in the economy called for a “full, pure, uncontrolled, unregulated laissez-faire” economy – she claimed that such a system was morally superior to the rest because it fully respects the individual pursuit of rational self-interest, it is also consistent with the non-aggression principle under free market capitalism, individuals will be free to use their time, money and other resources as they see fit. We will be able to interact and trade voluntarily with others to our mutual advantage rather than being forced to act certain ways by the state

Answer 8

conservatives “must fight for capitalism, not as a practical issue, not as an economic issue, but with the most righteous pride as a moral issue”

Answer 9

endorsed a form of ethical individualism that claimed that the rational pursuit of self-interest was morally right condemned all forms of personal altruism (the idea that individuals should put the wellbeing of other first) because it creates an artificial sense of obligation and expectation, it does not correspond with individual self interest people should pursue their own happiness, individual happiness should be everyone’s highest moral aim people should work hard to achieve a life of purpose and productiveness reason provides the fundamental basis of human life

Answer 10

“The question isn’t who is going to let me, it’s who is going to stop me”

Answer 11

objectivism was her most important contribution to political thought – she claimed that it offered a set of principles covering all aspects of human life including politics, economics, culture and relationships "The concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute"

Answer 12

US philosopher and right wing libertartian one of the most important intellectual figures in the development of the New Right most famous work - Anarchy, State and Utopia (1974)

Answer 13

individuals in society cannot be treated as things or used against their will as resources self-ownership – a concept dating back to liberal thinker John Locke, it is based on the idea that individuals own themselves, we own our own bodies, talents, abilities and labour (we have rights to the various elements that we are made up of) self-ownership gives people the right to determine what can be done with their bodies, talents, abilities and labour as well as the rewards/products of such labour

Answer 14

his libertarianism was partly based on Immanuel Kant’s moral principle that humans should be treated “always as an end and never as a means only” since human beings are rational, self-aware and possess free will, they should not be treated as objects or abused as mere resources

Answer 15

individuals have rights to their lives, liberty and the rewards from their labour – these rights act as ‘side constraints’ on the actions of others by setting limits on how a person may be treated an individual cannot be forced against his or her will to work for another person’s purposes regardless of if those purposes are good “individuals have rights and there are things no person or group may do to them”

Answer 16

in his major work, Anarchy, State and Utopia (1974) he argued for a rights-based libertarian system and a minimal state the only type of state that can be morally justified in a minimal or ‘night watchman’ state – the idea that the role of the state must be restricted to preserve individual liberty in such a state, power will be limited to those necessary and only used to protect people against violence, theft and fraud anything more than a minimal state also undermines self-ownership – e.g. a state that regulates what people eat, drink or smoke interferes with their rights to use their self-owned bodies how they please the state should not treat its citizens as objects to use as resources

Answer 17

opposes state welfare programmes funded by taxation because they are immoral – they amount to a type of forced labour imposed on the individual by the state and they treat individuals are a means or a resource to further the goals of equality and social justice, in doing so they violate the principle that humans should be seen as more than ‘things’ opposes state welfare funded via taxation due to his belief in self ownership, individuals are entitled to the products of their labour and these products should not be taken via taxation without our consent, taxation undermines self-ownership state welfare infringes property rights because legally acquired property including income cannot be transferred from one person to another without consent – to neoliberals, taxation to fund welfare measures is a form of legalised ‘state robbery’

Answer 18

taxation to fund welfare is a form of slavery the state gives others rewards in the form of welfare benefits which have been funded by someone else’s labour, it gives these people an entitlement to the product of someone else’s work this effectively means that anyone receiving benefits becomes a partial owner of the individual since they have partial property rights over his or her labour

Answer 19

humans are rational, self-aware and possess free will neoliberals have a more positive view on human nature compared to other strands of conservatism

Answer 20

“love the little platoon in society to which we belong”

Answer 21

“no generation should ever be so rash as to consider itself superior to its predecessors”

Answer 22

“society is indeed a contract... not only between those who are living, but between those who are living, those who are dead and those who are to be born” essentially, society must reflect the past, consider the present and meet the needs of future generations

Answer 23

“a state without the means of change is without the means of its conservation”

Answer 24

“custom is the great guide to human life” we just rely upon tradition and custom to provide us with moral bearings rather than relying on abstract ideas

Answer 25

“to be a conservative is to prefer the tried to the untried”

Key Thinkers Flashcards

(49 cards)