Key Conservative Figures

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Study Tip: As you go through the various key conservative thinkers in history, always remind yourself to analyse how their individual ideas relate to conservative thinking regarding human nature, the state, society and economy.

Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679)

Hobbes had a variety of beliefs about human nature

Human beings naturally desire to live well; they will never be satisfied with their power and will always want to acquire more

He believed all people were created equally

However, he argued the state of war, caused by competition, distrust and glory amongst men, was the natural state of humans beings

The state of war led Hobbes to investigate the importance of the question to what extent should we obey political authority

Hobbes outlines his main ideas in his famous book Leviathan 1651

He contended that a common power was required to keep men united

This power would work to maintain artificial harmony between people and would be held in the hands of one ruler or an assembly

The people make an agreement amongst themselves (social contract) to submit to this Sovereign

The only right that people would have to protest against a leader was if he made the direct threat to kill them and take their lives

If there was no order in the society life would be "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short"

For there to be social order there must be a decisive and coercive role for the played by the Sovereign

"The obligation of subjects to the sovereign is understood to last as long, and no longer, than the power lasteth by which he is able to protect them."

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Edmund Burke (1729– 1797)

Edmund Burke is perhaps the most influential thinker in relation to British conservatism

Burke rejected the Enlightenment basis that humans are rational entities. He claimed people need to be viewed as both imperfect and imperfectible

Any system based upon the perfectibility of man is then contrary to our innate character

Burke believed that “society is but a contract between the dead, the living and those yet to be born"

This means people living in the present should not be arrogant enough to think they know what is best

Burke would argue that a true society, in the conservative view, would need to reflect on its past, ponder the present and meet the needs for future generations to come

This reflects upon the notion of empiricism; which is the theory that all knowledge is founded on experience derived from the senses

People should be sustaining the natural order to have it readily available for the enjoyment of future generations

He believed humans also seek security over what can be termed abstract notions of liberty and equality

Those who are elected to represent the people must have a higher level of wisdom than the public

Claimed his own social class could govern the nation on the basis of paternalism

Believed there was a natural hierarchy within the living organism of society; opposed a mechanistic view of society (liberalism)

The ruling elite benefit from the knowledge passed down through familial generations, thus they have a duty to care for others

Rejects the liberal view that technocratic experts are the best option for guidance; people should give adequate reflection to the past and be extremely vigilant when taking any course of action

Critique of the French Revolution:

His critique was based on the revolutions failed attempt to structure a utopian society established on the principles of 'liberty, fraternity and equality'

Burke argues this ignores social bonds that bind people together

Also, it marks an effort to replace accumulated wisdom of prior generations with abstractions

These revolutionaries placed their faith in destroying rather than preserving; they were wrong to think they could establish a new world from the ashes of the old

Critique of the American Revolution:

Some would argue that Burke was a supporter of the Americans during the Civil War

He did oppose many policies that the British government pursued; he believed the policies were driving the colonies to rebellion

Burke hoped that the colonists would think critically before engaging in a bloody and senseless war

Burke wanted to give the colonists a greater sense of belonging to the British polity through some constitutional means

He did not see independence as a wise choice of action, but cared very much for the Americans

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."

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Benjamin Disraeli (1804 - 1881)

"Two nations between whom there is no intercourse and no sympathy; who are as ignorant of each other's habits, thoughts, and feelings, as if they were dwellers in different zones, or inhabitants of different planets. The rich and the poor."

Although Disraeli never used the term 'one-nation' it is implied throughout his work Sybil (1846)

Due to industrialisation and developing inequality, there is two nations within the one nation - the rich and the poor

Disraeli argued that political leadership should aspire to overcome social divisions between classes to make the country into ‘one-nation’

Disraeli socially critiqued laissez-faire philosophy

The selfish individualism of liberal industrialists and the Whig aristocracy, which was influenced by utilitarianism, denied the organic, social ties that existed between people, classes and communities

Disraeli was a paternalist; stressed the obligations of society to the nobility of the poor

He argued social measures that would improve the condition of the poor, where the best way to guard traditional institutions; the Church, monarchy, the House of Lords

Disraeli argued that different classes have obligations to one another, this was evident in the organism of society; those on top are obligated to those below

This is based on the feudal concept of noblesse oblige; this asserts the aristocracy has an obligation to be generous and honourable (Disraeli argued this meant government should be paternalistic)

Paternalists believe those who are less-educated and immature as members of society are easily led astray to self-harming practices, unless there is laws to deter these practices

This reflects a 'no man is an island' philosophy for society

The term paternalism derives from the image of a wise father protecting his children from endangering themselves

A more formal definition would be; an action limiting a person or group's liberty or autonomy which is intended to promote their own good

“When men are pure, laws are useless; when men are corrupt, laws are broken.”

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Michael Oakeshott (1901−1990)

"To be conservative, then, is to prefer the familiar to the unknown, to prefer the tried to the untried, fact to mystery, the actual to the possible, the limited to the unbounded, the near to the distant, the sufficient to the superabundant, the convenient to the perfect, present laughter to utopian bliss."

Oakeshott would argue that the realm of political ideas goes beyond the limits of our understanding

Rationalism and tradition:

Oakeshott argued that rationalism comes about as a result of tradition

Rationalism can be defined as an illusion that there are 'correct' answers to practical questions

Practical activity is rational, only when it rests on moral or casual laws whose truth can be illustrated

Traditional knowledge is about 'knowing how' to carry out practical activities

This acquires engaging in an activity and judgment in handling facts and rules

Therefore, the error in rationalism:

It is too simplistic to think making choices requires skill in technique of applying rules or calculating consequences

Further, knowledge that rationalism identifies as rational is itself the product of experience and judgment

Oakeshott outlines conservatism in his role of the state:

The state should be conceptualised as a ship that can be used to guard social harmony

He argues that the state cannot create a social utopia by reflecting on notions of social progress

People should merely seek to keep the ship afloat

Citizens should be sceptical of state intervention and social engineering

A true conservative, therefore, must be pragmatic

Moreover, he argues in 'On Human Conduct' there are two ways of comprehending social organisation:

Enterprise association: the state is seen as imposing universal purpose on its subjects; this is based on the ability of humans to grasp a universal 'good' (i.e. the Politics of Faith)

Civil association: a legal relationship; laws impose obligatory conditions of action (they do not require choosing one action over another though); this depends on the ability of humans to achieve this 'good' (i.e. the Politics of Scepticism)

According to Oakeshott, the Politics of Faith necessitates the prerequisite of power, because:

It permits people to believe they can achieve something good

It allows them to implement and carry out the policies required to achieve this good

The Politics of Scepticism rests mainly on the idea that governments should be primarily concerned with preventing bad things from happening

“In political activity . . . men sail a boundless and bottomless sea; there is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place nor appointed destination. The enterprise is to keep afloat on an even keel.”

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Friedrich Hayek (1899–1992)

“The danger of tyranny that inevitably results from government control of economic decision-making through central planning."

Hayek's major influence comes in the way that capitalist societies understand the concept of liberty. He outlines his main ideas in his famous book The Road to Serfdom (1944). For Hayek, liberty did not mean democracy or a set of liberal ideals. Liberty was defined by him as “a policy which deliberately adopts competition, markets and prices as its ordering principles”.

Markets guaranteed individual liberty; it was the interruption of the state in the market that led the state down the road to serfdom

Hayek rejected the view that certain groups of people are naturally to pursue a certain type of government e.g. Germans and totalitarian government

State planning interfered with the natural operation of markets

Hayek was concerned fundamentally that no one individual could make rational choices regarding economic problems as they did not have enough information on which to base their decision

The market is meant to act as a form of collective agreement; liberty is to be found in allowing the market to do its work

For Hayek, capitalism was the only economic system compatible with human dignity, prosperity and liberty. When we begin to move away from the capitalist system, we enable the worst of society to manage what they cannot comprehend.

"I am certain that nothing has done so much to destroy the juridical safeguards of individual freedom as the striving after this mirage of social justice."