PIA3109

Conservative perspective

Bill Taylor
 The big ideas
There are some people who are in a better position
to govern than others.
They should govern
The rest should be governed
Society is a moral construct, shaping and giving
purpose to individuals
Divine right of kings was golden age
‘peoples’ (subjects) is replaced with ‘nation’ as
common identity
Backward orientated
 Principles
Human nature:
social environment shapes behaviour
Humans are ‘passionate’ social animals
led to good or evil
Society
more than sum of individuals
Naturally structured and hierarchical
Morality
Responsibility of those in power to act in public interest
Individualism is immoral
Freedom only found in ‘shared values’
 Origins
Divine right of kings
Religious foundation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bviTlghlIxc
though it drags on
https://www.timesofisrael.com/belief-in-trump-as-chosen-
by-god-part-of-growing-evangelical-power-movement/
Mao
The leading writers – old school
Burke (1729-92 (or 97))
Society is a fragile organism, which needs nurturing
Aristocrats, because of their inherited wealth make
good rulers
No need to scramble for wealth
Able to govern in public interest impartially
A good society draws on the ‘collective wisdom of the
ages’
Quote: the age of chivalry has gone. That of sophisters,
economists and calculators has succeeded’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhnyTo4oJv8
The leading writers – old school
(continued)
Carlyle (1795-1881)
French Revolution -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBn7iWzrKoI
charismatic leaders should be allowed to emerge as
rulers
Traditional hierarchy worked because each knew their
duties and role in society
Democracy leads to competition of individual interest –
no public good
entrepreneurs, lack public interest, so become despots
Workers should be involved in decision making in enterprises
The problem of Thomas Hobbes
(1588-1679)
humans act on need to fulfil desires

Leviathan
Social contract on the state needs absolute rule
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9i4jb5XBX5s
(start at 1.20)
(contradict conservative basis)
State of nature – brutish – so need
Lord of the flies argument - Stanford experiment
[but – in 1966 – real case
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/shipwreck-deserted-island-so
uth-pacific-survivors-60-minutes-2021-04-04/
 Confucius
Argued set of ethics, but
much practical effort focused on leaders and
Leaders responsibility (duties & ethics) more
important then obedience (filial piety) [see
Xunxi, Compete Works, ch. 28, l. 48-59]
Harked back to a golden age of Chou
Dynasty
Did not question roles
(only how appropriately one fulfilled ones
role)
The leading writers – revisionists
Pareto (1848-1923)
Markets efficiently allocate resources
Natural for elites to rule societies
circulation of elites
Foxes – capitalists create change but cannot govern
Lions – govern but cannot change
 Samuel Huntington
Reform apartheid not abolish it
Reform periods need duplicitous states
Clash of Civilisations
Conflicts over basic beliefs enshrined in
religions replace cold war divisions
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commo
ns/3/34/Clash_of_Civilizations_mapn2.png
 Daniel Bell (Tsinghua)
Democracy does not work
Dictatorships are just as successful
Meteoritic rulers
Plato, Confucius and Jiang Qing
Candidates for leadership examined by scholars
Or/ and 2 chambers – elected from mass and of
intellectuals.
P. 171 – democracy at base officials,
meritocratic more senior.
 Fascism
The idea the nation or social group should
rule - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dxmg8F5Ji4
Tends to see a past time as ‘great’ but
Present time threatened by
Advisories and
Vanquishing the threat is the root to
Perfect society
All should submit to the greater goal
Problems with the perspective
Who is the elite
How do the charismatic and the ‘born’ leaders become
so?
hereditary rights – why be a leader if you cannot pass
on the power
Why should the next generation be of leadership quality?
Meritocracy
Who decides what is meritorious
What is considered meritorious – ‘classics’?
 Problems continued….
Operationally - Coping with change
emphasis on ‘tradition’ change is not possible to
understand or
Results from violent clashes
Empirical
Tends towards nationalism/ fascism/ racism
emphasis on ‘family values’ with narrow of view of
what that means which tend to be hetronormative