Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
To what extent do conservatives have a common view of human nature? (KEY…
To what extent do conservatives have a common view of human nature?
HUMAN IMPERFECTION
Conservatives reject ideas about the enlightenment and argue human nature can not be perfected
Because humans are naturally imperfect, the can't make rational decisions for themselves
ANTI-PERMISSIVENESS
Conservative believe in not always allowing people to make their own moral choices.
Example:
Margaret Thatcher passed a law in 1987 which prohibited the mention of homosexuality in school sex education
Humans are attracted to safety and comfort so the hierarchy should be preserved
HEIRARCHY
By giving up some freedom, we gain security through law and order. Society is naturally hierarchical, which is the fairest system.
Crime is due to flawed morals, not inequality. Conservatives therefore human nature causes a need for behaviour regulation through tough law and order.
PATERNALISM
Human imperfection justifies paternalism, some people making decisions on the behalf of others.
Nobless Oblige
the upper classes of society have a duty to look after the working classes.
The state knows best and all members of society should follow their instructions.
TRADITIONAL CONSEVATIVES
Society is naturally heirarchical and based on inequalities
Key belief: Paternalism
Diraeli and Burke believed in 'neo-feudalism' and argued for class structures as this could maintain order
ONE NATION
Key belief: Noblesse oblige- there should still be a ruling class as some people can't make rational decisions. But there should be a focus on the elite helping the poor.
Example:
In 2014, David Cameron promised to scrap taxes for those earning minimum wage
Believe humans have responsibilities and duties to one another, but there is still need for some government intervention to protect those view imperfections.
NEW RIGHT
Believes social welfare will lead to humans becoming naturally dependant on the state - 'hand up, not a hand out'
Opposing view of human nature: they believe individuals are rational and self-interested. Freedom can only be preserved for the individual through less government intervention
Example:
Thatcher in the 1980s began to privatise many industries
Believe that inequalities make people strive to work harder to achieve more
KEY THINKERS
Edmund Burke:
Believed in human imperfection and believed structural systems in society needed to be preserved to help humans make the right decisions.
Thomas Hobbes:
A dominant state is needed to maintain order, humans are naturally violent and therefore authority is needed to suppress and remove these imperfections
Michael Oakeshott:
Humans are intellectually imperfect. State should be maintains to oversee society, but he believed intervention was bad.
Ayn Rand:
Rejected the idea of paternalism, but instead believed humans could be rational. Supported the idea of objectivism (gaining knowledge through logic and reasoning). Believed humans are self-interested.
Robert Nozick:
Thought that individuals have a right to own their bodies and abilities and if the state had control over individuals they will be working towards a common good, not their self-interests.