Origins:
- Very much a reaction following on from the enlightenment thinking where there was a notion that society would be carried through to strive with tolerance, equality and rights
- This period became known as the ‘Whig Supremacy’ where America’s Declaration of Independence was unquestionable, and any critique of Enlightenment was outdated.
- Revolution as seen through the French Revolution saw the dramatic overthrow of Enlightenment thinking and the monarchy along with the irrational religious assumptions. This was greeted with enthusiasm by European intellectuals
- However, the revolution and the imposition of reason and other Enlightenment ideas had horrific consequences accompanied by ‘the Terror’ following the beheading of King Louis XVI where thousands of people were executed in the name of progress.
- Genocidal violence became the means of securing an enlightened revolutionary regime
- Events in France meant that it was now possible to criticise progress without denying the spirit of Enlightenment and to accept reform whilst rejecting revolution.
- The French Revolution paved the way for a new sort of political ideology, one that wold respect the case for change whilst warning of its dangers.
- Edmund Burke was the so called ‘father of conservatism’.
Human
Nature:
- Progressive ideologies such as liberalism and socialism view human nature by asserting that humans can have endless achievement and improve but conservatism stresses optimism (hopefulness), frailty (weak) and fallibility (making mistakes).
- Deny any possibility of a perfect utopian society. Humanity is “as is” rather it “could” or “should”. Rejects the malleable view of human nature offered by socialism. Nor can humanity be remoulded if in the correct social environment.
- Fixed and constant where the job of politicians is to accommodate, not alter, this reality.
- Human Imperfection: Refers to the timeless flaws of humanity – flaws which make any quest for the perfect society misguided and potentially disastrous.
- Hobbes: Viewed the state of nature which was different from Locke. Hobbes thought human nature would be ruthlessly selfish, calculating and competitive. Relations would be marked by “envy, hatred and war” leading to a life that would be “nasty, brutish and short”
- Hobbes later argued that human nature had a cold rationality leading to individuals to forge a contract leading to a formal state. Hobbes placed himself closer to Liberalism.
- Burke: Argued that human nature caused the French Revolution. Denied that human nature was guided by reason and dismissed any notion that mankind could plan the near-perfect society.
- Highlighted the ‘chasm’ between desire and achievement and wanted custom, habit and experience on how we should behave. Human nature was not flawless.
- Burke thought that human nature was as brutally selfish as Hobbes described. Second, he thought that humans were capable of kindness and altruism, even wisdom as long as actions were rooted in history and tradition of the Church. Third, Burke thought that human nature was communally natural and not individualistic. Individuals could gain comfort and support from small communities around them.
- Michael Oakeshott argued that human nature was not brutish but fragile and fallible but benevolent when framed by religious principles.
- Robert Nozick & Ayn Rand: Human nature has a yearning for individual freedom and enterprise and innovation. New Right and traditional conservatives agreed but formal authority is needed. Driven by self-interest but a view must be taking that humans can provide some peace and stability in human affairs.