Editor Jerry Z. Muller argues persuasively in his introduction that conservatism is best understood as a particularistic ideology rooted in place and time rather than a universal one adhering to a set of Platonic ideals. In other words, an American conservative today is not the same as a French one from 200 years ago. But conservatives everywhere do share a number of traits in common, says Muller, including a belief in human imperfection and the limits of human knowledge, faith in habit and custom, and appreciation for the utility of religion, if not necessarily the truth of it. Conservatism provides an overview to an important mode of political thought, and one that will, at the very least, get right-wingers to reflect upon their own first principles.
Table of Contents
Preface xiii (4)
Acknowledgments xvii
Introduction: What is Conservative Social and Political Thought? 3 (29)
Chapter 1. Enlightenment Conservatism
32 (46)
David Hume
"Of Justice," from An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals (1751)
Introduction
32 (4)
Text
36
"Of the Origin of Government" (1777)
"Of the Original Contract" (1748)
"Of Passive Obedience" (1748)
Introduction
46 (2)
Texts
48
Edmund Burke
"Preface" to A Vindication of Natural Society (Second Edition, 1757)
63 (7)
Introduction
63 (3)
Text
66 (4)
Justus Moser
"On the Diminished Disgrace of Whores and Their Children in Our Day" (1772)
70 (4)
Introduction
70 (1)
Text
71
"No Promotion According to Merit" (c. 1770)
Introduction
74 (1)
Text
75 (3)
Chapter 2. The Critique of Revolution
78 (89)
Edmund Burke
Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790)
78 (45)
Introduction
78 (5)
Text
83 (40)
Louis de Bonald
On Divorce (1801)
123 (11)
Introduction
123 (3)
Text
126 (8)
Joseph de Maistre
Essay on the Generative Principle of Political Constitutions and of Other Human Institutions (1814)
134 (12)
Introduction
134 (2)
Text
136 (10)
James Madison
"Federalist No. 49" (1788)
146 (6)
Introduction
146 (4)
Text
150 (2)
Rufus Choate
"The Position and Functions of the American Bar, as an Element of Conservatism in the State" (1845)
152 (15)
Introduction
152 (3)
Text
155 (12)
Chapter 3. Authority
167 (43)
Matthew Arnold
Culture and Anarchy (1869)
167 (20)
Introduction
167 (4)
Text
171 (16)
James Fitzjames Stephen
Liberty, Equality, Fraternity (1874)
187
Introduction
187 (2)
Text
189 (21)
Chapter 4. Inequality
210 (23)
W. H. Mallock
Aristocracy and Evolution: A Study of the Rights, the Origin, and Social Functions of the Wealthier Classes (1898)
210 (12)
Introduction
210 (3)
Text
213 (9)
Joseph A. Schumpeter
"Aptitude and Social Mobility" (1927)
222 (11)
Introduction
222 (2)
Text
224 (9)
Chapter 5. The Critique of Good Intentions
233 (16)
William Graham Sumner
"Sociological Fallacies" (1884)
"On the Case of a Certain Man Who Is Never Thought Of" (1883)
"An Examination of a Noble Sentiment" (c. 1887)
233 (16)
Introduction
233 (4)
Texts
237 (12)
Chapter 6. War
249 (12)
T. E. Hulme
"Essays on War" (1916)
249 (12)
Introduction
249 (2)
Text
251 (10)
Chapter 7. Democracy
261 (24)
Carl Schmitt
"When Parliament Cannot be Sovereign" (1931)
261 (14)
Introduction
261 (6)
Text
267 (8)
Joseph A. Schumpeter
"Political Leadership and Democracy" (1942)
275 (10)
Introduction
275 (2)
Text
277 (8)
Chapter 8. The Limits of Rationalism
285 (73)
Winston Churchill
"Speech on Rebuilding the House of Commons" (1943)
285 (5)
Introduction
285 (1)
Text
286 (4)
Michael Oakeshott
"Rationalism in Politics" (1947)
290 (23)
Introduction
290 (2)
Text
292 (21)
Friedrich Hayek
"The Errors of Constructivism" (1970) The Mirage of Social Justice (1973)
313 (22)
Introduction
313 (5)
Texts
318 (17)
Edward Banfield
The Unheavenly City Revisited (1974)
335 (23)
Introduction
335 (3)
Text
338 (20)
Chapter 9. The Critique of Social and Cultural Emancipation
358 (43)
Irving Kristol
"Pornography, Obscenity, and the Case for Censorship" (1971)
358 (14)
Introduction
358 (3)
Text
361 (11)
Peter L. Berger
Richard John Neuhaus
To Empower People: The Role of Mediating Structures in Public Policy (1977)
372 (18)
Introduction
372 (2)
Text
374 (16)
Hermann Lubbe
"The Social Consequences of Attempts to Create Equality" (1984)
390 (11)
Introduction
390 (3)
Text
393 (8)
Chapter 10. Between Social Science and Cultural Criticism
401 (20)
Arnold Gehlen
"On Culture, Nature, and Naturalness" (1958) "Man and Institutions" (1960)
401 (10)
Introduction
401 (3)
Texts
404 (7)
Philip Rieff
"Toward a Theory of Culture" (1966)
411 (10)
Introduction
411 (3)
Text
414 (7)
Afterword: Recurrent Tensions and Dilemmas of Conservative Thought 421 (6)
Guide to Further Reading 427 (16)
Index