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Conservatism - Coggle Diagram
Conservatism
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Views
Human nature
Hobbes: extremely negative, humans are selfish and individualistic, driven by self-interest
Burke: somewhat negative, we're morally and intellectually fallible
Oakeshott: negative, intellectual imperfection, decisions should be grounded in empiricism, not rationalism
Rand: positive, humans capable of rational thought and should pursue self-interest
Nozick: positive, we're rational and driven by the idea of self-ownership
State
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Burke: organic, noblesse oblige, state should 'change to conserve' - guided by empiricism
Oakeshott: state guided by tradition and experience and if it has to change, should be guided by pragmatism and empiricism
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Nozick: a minarchist state: state limited to law and order, enforcement of contract and defence of realm
Society
Hobbes: society did not exist before the creation of the state and the sovereign brings order and authority. Life was 'nasty.brutish and short' before the state
Burke: society is like a multifaceted organism with many communities, traditions and customs that have a symbiotic relationship
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Rand: society pursues atomistic individualism - individuals fully motivated by self-fulfillment and they resist state/societal obligations as they restrict individual freedom, no welfare state
Nozick: society is essentially atomistic, individuals with libertarian values, no welfare state
Economy
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Oakeshott: free market = natural state of the market and state involvement should be limited to pragmatic moderation
Nozick: a minarchist state with a privatised, deregulated economy
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Aspects to conservatism
Traditional conservatism: 'a natural disposition' for Oakeshott, 'reactionary' to Enlightenment ideas, 'non-reactionary' for Burke as this was capable of change (Met police founding 1829, repeal of the corn laws 1846)
Early and Late One-Nation conservatism: Examples - punch cartoon, Disraeli...later one-nation = Macmillan who oversaw the building of 300,000 properties over WW2. This government abandoned empiricism as well as a tradition with the Life Peerage Act (1958), Keynesian economics
New Right
Marriage of neo-liberalism and neo-conservatism: Free-market, Thatcher, privatisation of gas, electricity, water, telecoms and reduced role of the state and Thatcher's neo-liberal economic ideology made her indifferent to unemployment. Believed unemployment was a result of state intervention
Reagan and Thatcher inspired 'war' on recreational drug use which liberalism supports as a choice entirely up to the individual
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