April 10, 2022
CONSERVING:
Conservatism? What a Concept: a review of Conservatism (Key Concepts in Political Theory) by Edmund Neill. (Daniel Pitt, University Bookman)
[H]e runs through some of the differing types of definitions. Some examples are the dispositional types (think Samuel Huntington) the traditionalist types (think Michael Oakeshott) and, what I have coined, the sociologist types (think Karl Manheim). Neill then concentrates on what he believes are the two core aspects of conservatism. The first of these is the "extra-human" forces, or in other words, factors outside of human agency. This perhaps could be rephrased in a more Burkean or Kirkean style as the providential nature of human society, or perhaps in a more Scrutonian way as the transcendental order or authority. The second core aspect, according to Neill, is the concept of natural evolution of institutions, for example based on trial and error.
Usefully, this definition makes clear that the Right, which hates our institutions, is not conservative, but as radical as the Left.
Posted by Orrin Judd at April 10, 2022 9:39 AM