CONSERVATISM AND

LIBERALISM
 HOBBES (1588-1679)
POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY
Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) publishes Leviathan
in 1651 as political philosophy for English
( "Leviathan“: Hebrew for sea monster, used by Hobbes as a metaphor for
strength and power of the British commonwealth and its sovereign.)

In State of Nature, humans are entirely free but life

is “solitary, nasty brutish (*like animals) and
short.”
Human beings band together to form society for
protection, but sacrifice liberty for this
The benefits of society far outweigh the liberty of
nature
 SOCIAL CONTRACT THEORY

Social Contract theory assumes that human beings at some

point did not live in societies with governments (“state of
nature”)
At some point, humans make some mutual agreement (social
contract) to live together
In doing this, they must have some goal of better outcomes,
otherwise they’d stay where they are
Government, then, is the contract we establish as agreement to
live together
 PSYCHOLOGICAL EGOISM AND
SOCIAL CONTRACT THEORY (IEP)
Hobbes is often interpreted as affirming psychological egoism—the view
that all of our actions are selfishly motivated.
[*Think: is this correct?]
Hobbes: “of all voluntary acts, the object is to every man his own good “(Leviathan Ch. XV, p.
47)

On this foundation, Hobbes developed social contract theory: in exchange

for self interests eg security, economic advantage.
For purely selfish reasons, the agent is better off living in a world with
moral rules e.g. prohibitions against lying, stealing and killing.
 PROBLEMS FOR THOSE WHO THINK THAT
PSYCHOLOGICAL EGOISM AND SOCIAL CONTRACT
THEORY PROVIDE THE BASIS FOR OBJECTIVE
MORALITY:

In some societies certain powerful people can have more advantage

disrespecting the right of the weak…

If disrespecting another person’s human rights will benefit my self

interests and I can get away with it, then I should do it?

Is-ought fallacy: the fact that many people are selfish does not
imply that we should be selfish…
HOBBES: THE KING AS THE
MORTAL GOD
Once the social contract has been entered, it must
be honored
Nobody has the right to repeal the contract because
it is the fabric of society and the only alternative is
the state of nature
The king stands as a “mortal god” whose will must
be perfectly obeyed even if it is sometimes unjust
A far more “unjust” society is one where people
refuse to uphold the contract
MONARCHY
Many nations have long held an idea that the monarch is
divinely protected.
 Confucianism: Mandate of Heaven
 Augustine: God ordains the emperors to do His will
 Investiture Controversy: King is under the Pope
Feudalism is characterized by hierarchical ladder
Oxford Dictionary: the nobility held lands from the Crown in exchange for military
service, and vassals were in turn tenants of the nobles, while the peasants (villeins or
serfs) were obliged to live on their lord's land and give him homage, labour, and a
share of the produce, notionally in exchange for military protection

In 17th century, feudal order is in question

French monarch Louis XIV successfully defended his absolute
power against resistance
 CONSERVATISM

• A cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote

and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values.
• The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the
culture and civilization in which it appears.
• In Western culture, depending on the particular nation,
conservatives seek to promote a range of social institutions such
as the nuclear family, organized religion, the military,
property rights, and monarchy. (Wikipedia)
 EDMUND BURKE (1729/30–1797)

• Proponent of Traditional (Classical) Conservatism: Burke

argues that the French Revolutionaries misunderstood human
nature by concentrating on the rights, interests, and choices of
the individual (atomistic conception).
• Rather, society should be regarded like a fabric—the “social
fabric”—and its individual members are like the interwoven
threads of a richly textured tapestry. Although the tapestry as
a whole is beautiful, the individual threads are not.
• Note: this does not imply a rejection of individual rights:
Burke affirms the preservation of private property (Ball and
Dagger)
 EDMUND BURKE (1729/30–1797)

• The social contract is a sacred covenant that binds whole generations

together
• To preserve this partnership, both government and longstanding customs and
traditions are indispensable.
• Government must be rooted in the customs and traditions of the people, who
must acquire the habit of obeying, respecting, and even revering it. (Ball and
Dagger)
 REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT
• Burke: One did not have to vote to have his or her interests well represented. What
matters more than the right to vote is having the right kind of person in office—a
wise, prudent, and well-informed person to whom we can entrust our interest
• Burke believed that democracy would seriously threaten the health of representative
government. As the masses of people gain the franchise, they will vote for
candidates who pander to their passions and desires, electing representatives who
will respond to their momentary wishes instead of promoting the society’s long-term
interests.
• (*THINK: How Donald Trump won the election)
• Based on a more pessimistic view of human nature compared with Liberalism:
related to the Christian doctrine of sin.
 19TH CENTURY ENGLISH CONSERVATISM
• Defended the traditional agricultural society against the ravages of
industry and commerce.
• Commerce and capitalism were the enemies of spirituality and culture.
• The new creed of production in pursuit of profit simply fostered crass
materialism.
• All of the old virtues, all loyalties, all ties to persons and places were
vanishing in the pursuit of money—a pursuit that would end with men
and women out of touch with themselves, with one another, and with
nature (Ball and Dagger)
 POPE PIUS IX: SYLLABUS OF ERRORS
(1864)
• Sharply criticized liberalism for undermining religion and the traditional order.
• Pius IX regarded the following two beliefs as erroneous:
• 1.Human reason, without any regard to God, is the sole arbiter of truth and
falsehood, of good and evil; it is a law to itself, and by its natural force it suffices
to secure the welfare of men and nations.
• 2.In the present day, it is no longer expedient that the Catholic religion shall be
held as the only religion of the State, to the exclusion of all other modes of
worship. (Ball and Dagger).
 Liberalism
(Latin liber: “free”)

• A political and moral philosophy based on the rights of the individual,

liberty, consent of the governed, political equality,
right to private property and equality before the law.
• Liberals espouse various views depending on their understanding of
these principles but generally support private property,
market economies, individual rights (including civil rights and
human rights), liberal democracy, secularism, rule of law, economic
and political freedom, freedom of speech, freedom of the press,
freedom of assembly, and freedom of religion,
constitutional government and privacy rights.
• Liberalism is frequently cited as the dominant ideology of
modern history. (Wikipedia)
The Christian is Free—Martin Luther

• Beginning with Martin Luther, Protestantism denied

the authority of the Pope, which challenged “divine
right” of ordained kings
• John Calvin especially denied apostolic authority
and insisted that the state’s laws should be
directed toward God, not human power
• Puritans rejected Anglicanism’s apostolicity and so
rejected the king’s divine power
 Life, Liberty, Property

• In 1689, John Locke publishes Two Treatises on

Government as support of Glorious Revolution
• Locke’s State of Nature is one where we have
inalienable rights to life, liberty, property.
• Humans follow the “natural law” in nature
• The state is created to protect property interests
• Because society is about interests, it must
conform to consent, and governments must be
flexible
This passage from Locke’s Two Treatises of Government, 2.6 (1690) is one of
the foundation stones of the notion of private property as a natural right
which all individuals should have”

“The state of nature has a law of nature to govern it, which obliges every one: and
reason, which is that law, teaches all mankind, who will but consult it, that being all
equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or
possessions: for men being all the workmanship of one omnipotent, and infinitely wise
maker; all the servants of one sovereign master, sent into the world by his order, and
about his business; they are his property, whose workmanship they are, made to last
during his, not one another's pleasure: and being furnished with like faculties, sharing
all in one community of nature, there cannot be supposed any such subordination
among us, that may authorize us to destroy one another, as if we were made for one
another's uses, as the inferior ranks of creatures are for our's. Every one, as he is
bound to preserve himself, and not to quit his station wilfully, so by the like reason,
when his own preservation comes not in competition, ought he, as much as he can, to
preserve the rest of mankind, and may not, unless it be to do justice on an offender,
take away, or impair the life, or what tends to the preservation of the life, the liberty,
health, limb, or goods of another.
 Liberalism: equality under the law

• Locke: “They [rulers] are to govern by

promulgated establish’d Laws , not to be
varied in particular Cases, but to have one
Rule for Rich and Poor, for the Favourite at
[the king’s] Court, and the Country Man at
Plough.”

• Justice is blind: it cannot see or take into

account differences of social status, wealth,
or political power. (Ball and Dagger)
 Main difference between
Locke and Hobbes

• Like Hobbes’s, Locke believed that government is

founded on the consent of the people; but Locke
believed that people can consent to create and obey
only a limited or constitutional government.
• Locke: To give anyone total and absolute power over
people’s lives would be both irrational and contrary to
the will of God as expressed through natural law. ( Ball and
Dagger)
Emergence of Religious Toleration after
The Thirty Years War (1618–48)

• Ideas found earlier e.g. in Zwingli, Melanchthon,

Anabaptists
• Protestant John Foxe: "strove hard to save Anabaptists
from the fire, and he enunciated a sweeping doctrine of
tolerance even towards Catholics, whose doctrines he
detested with every fibre of his being“ (Dickens 1978)
• 1644: Puritans: condemn religious persecution,
regarded this as a popish corruption of primitive
Christianity
 John Locke’s Letters of Toleration
(-> Separation of church and state)
• 1. It is impossible for the state to adjudicate between competing
religious truth-claims. Locke argued that no earthly judge can be
brought forward to settle such debates. For this reason, religious
diversity is to be tolerated.
• 2. Even if it could be established that one religion was superior to
all others, the legal enforcement of this religion would not lead to
the desired objective of that religion.
• 3. The results of trying to impose religious uniformity are far worse
than those which result from the continuing existence of diversity.
Religious coercion leads to internal discord, or even civil war.
(McGrath)
 John Locke’s Letters of Toleration
• Arguing for the need to tolerate at least
some degree of diversity in religion, rather
than allowing it to lead to conflict on three
grounds.
• Yet (sadly) Locke was clear that toleration
was not to be extended to Catholics and
atheists, both of whom he regarded as
threats to the still-unstable social order in
England at the time. (McGrath)
 The Growth of Democracy (Ball and Dagger p.
68)

• Locke did not clearly advocate an extension of voting rights beyond the
property-holders who were allowed to vote in his day; he also held
shares in a company engaged in the slave trade.
• Locke and other early liberals simply took it for granted, moreover, that
natural equality and the right to self-government did not include
women.
• By making their liberal claims, however, early liberals provided an
opening for those who could say, “If all men are created equal, why isn’t
this or that group of men or women being treated as equals?” By
speaking the language of equality, in other words, they contributed,
perhaps unwittingly, to the growth of democracy
Rousseau

• In 1762, Jean-Jacques Rousseau

further develops Locke’s ideas,
which shape American and French
politics
• Rousseau characterizes government
as executive, legislative, judicial
• The people are the legislature, so
the executive must enact their will
• Only the people are sovereign, so
any constitution they devise or
withdraw is legitimate
Tension between promotion of individual freedom and promotion of
equality:
Neoclassical liberals vs Welfare liberals

• “Neoclassical” liberals • “Welfare” liberals

• Government should be as
small as possible in order
to leave room for the
exercise of individual
freedom (Ball and Dagger)
• Government can be a positive force for
promoting individual liberty by ensuring
that everyone enjoys an equal
opportunity in life.
• Unlike Socialists, welfare liberals prefer
private ownership and competitive
capitalist system.
• Many welfare liberals believe that
welfare state is the best counter to
socialism.
Liberalism: more optimistic view of human nature, related to Christian
doctrine that humans are created equal in the image of God (Ball and
Dagger)
• Liberals: people have the ability, through reason, to control and direct their desires.
• Most women and men are rational beings who know what is in their own interests
and, given the opportunity, are capable of acting to promote those interests.
• Liberals generally agree that self-interest is the primary motive for most people.
• Rational, self-interested men and women will find themselves competing with one
another in their attempts to promote their personal interests. This is healthy as long
as the competition remains fair and stays within proper bounds—e.g., as long as the
person does not choose to interfere with the freedom of others to live as they see
fit.
• That is to say that equality is also an important element in the liberal conception of
freedom: each person is to have an equal opportunity to enjoy liberty.
 Utilitarian liberalism (Ball and Dagger)

• What, on Utilitarian grounds, is to stop the majority and thereby

protect the liberty and promote the happiness of the unpopular
individual or minority? To this question Bentham had no adequate
answer.
• Mill tried to solve this problem: Mill’s harm principle —every sane adult
should be free to do whatever he or she wants so long as his or her
actions do not harm or threaten to harm others.
• Mill defended his principle by appealing not to natural rights, as most
of the early liberals had done, but to utility. Freedom is a good thing,
he argued, because it promotes “the permanent interests of man as a
progressive being.”
 The abolition of slavery

• William Wilberforce (1759–1833)

• -a conservative who advocate
liberalism in rejecting slavery
 Overcoming slavery (before Wilberforce)

• Historian Glenn Sunshine: "Christians were the first people

in history to oppose slavery systematically. Early Christians
purchased slaves in the markets simply to set them free.
• Later, in the seventh century, the Franks..., under the
influence of its Christian queen, Bathilde, became the first
kingdom in history to begin the process of outlawing
slavery. ...In the 1200's, Thomas Aquinas declared slavery a
sin.
• When the African slave trade began in the 1400's, it was
condemned numerous times by the papacy."
Overcoming slavery (before Wilberforce)
Wiki:

• Pope Paul III (Sublimis Deus, 1537) against Indian slavery:

"their souls were as immortal as those of Europeans" and
they should neither be robbed nor turned into slaves.
• While these edicts may have had some beneficial effects,
these were limited in scope. European colonies were
mainly run by military and royally-appointed
administrators, who
seldom stopped to consider church teachings when
forming policy or enforcing their rule.
 Abolition of Slavery

• William Wilberforce (1759–1833), the Member of Parliament for Hull,

had a religious conversion experience in 1784.
• As a result of his conversion and conversations with other members
of the Clapham Sect, Wilberforce had developed a commitment to
the abolition of the slave trade on religious grounds.
• God, he argued, “has made from one blood every nation of men”
(Acts 17:26). How then could people be treated as mere possessions?
Or one race be deemed inferior to another?
• Appealing to the Bible, Wilberforce argued that “the lower classes,
instead of being an inferior order in the creation, are even the
preferable objects of the love of the Almighty.”
 Abolition of Slavery

• Wilberforce was a close friend and colleague of William Pitt, the prime
minister.
• Wilberforce entered the parliamentary debate on May 12, 1789, with a
long, closely reasoned speech of three-and-a-half hours, describing the
impact of the trade on Africa and the appalling conditions of the “middle
passage.”
• Abolition, he argued, would not merely end an immoral activity. It would
lead to an improvement in the conditions of slaves already in the West
Indies.
 Abolition of Slavery

• He was supported by other religious leaders who were

hostile to the trade, including the former slave-trader John
Newton, and the great Methodist statesman and preacher,
John Wesley. Wesley’s last letter, dated February 24, 1791,
urged Wilberforce to maintain his parliamentary campaign
against the trade.
• Many traders resisted him—arguing that his campaign would
lead to financial collapse of the British Empire
• It was not until shortly after Wilberforce’s death in 1833
that parliament finally abolished slavery throughout the
British Empire.
Seeking a balance between conservatism and
liberalism