Book Reviews and Notices : The Case for Conservatism. By FRANCIS GRAHAM WILSON. (Seattle, Wash ington: University of Washington Press. 1951. Pp. iv, 74. $1.75.)

• Date: 01 March 1951
• Author: Charles E. Merriam
• DOI: 10.1177/106591295100400126
• Published date: 01 March 1951
• Subject Matter: Articles

146

and

the

existence

of

a

fundamental

rational

law

binding

on

the

individual

will-which

could

only

be held

together

by

an

appeal

to

Christian

con-

science ;

and

that

when

Christian

conscience

degenerated

into

mere

senti-

ment

(as

it

did

with

the

rise

of

positivism),

liberalism

ceased

to

be

a

tenable

or

satisfying

theory.

The

limitations

the

author

has

imposed

on

himself

prevent

him

from

seeking

any

social

or

economic

explanations

of

the

decline

of

that

conscience

or

of

the

rise

of

positivism.

His

handling

of

Marxism

and

communism

is

less

effective.

In

yield.

ing

his

standards

somewhat

to

the

anticommunist

current,

Professor

Hallo-

well

has

done

his

own

cause

a

disservice;

he

has

failed

to

recognize

that

the

serious

competitor

of

Christianity

in

the

Western

world

now

is

the

religion

of

anticommunism.

Rejecting

liberalism,

socialism

and

the

whole

crop

of

modern

philos-

ophies

from

positivism

to

existentialism,

Professor

Hallowell

holds

that

the

crisis

of

our

times

is

a

spiritual

crisis,

arising

from

man’s

having

alienated

himself

from

God.

Since

no

analysis

is

offered

to

show

the

superiority

of

this

view

to

any

of

those

rejected,

Professor

Hallowell

puts

himself

beyond

criticism

from

political

science.

University

of

Toronto.

C.

B.

MACPHERSON.

The

Case

for

Conservatism.

By

FRANCIS

GRAHAM

WILSON.

(Seattle,

Wash-

ington:

University

of

Washington

Press.

1951.

Pp.

iv,

74.

$1.75.)

This

compact

volume

contains

three

lectures

given

by

the

author

at

the

University

of

Washington,

on

The

Conservative

Spirit

in

Politics;

Must

the

Right

Go

Left?;

The

American

Conservative

Tradition.

Both

the

theory

and

the

practice

of

political

change

are

topics

of

long

time

discussion,

and

the

writer

naturally

finds

much

difficulty

in

compressing

the

many

conflicting

points

of

view

within

his

relatively

limited

space.

One

may

ask,

what

is

conservatism?

Of

course,

the

definition

itself

raises

many

difficult

problems.

Professor

Wilson

says

(page

23),

&dquo;Conservatism

as

a

political

attitude

strives

to

balance

stability

and

order

against

doc,

trinaire

progress

and

careless

reform.&dquo;

He

finds

that

the

conservative

spirit

advocates

moderation

in

reform

because

&dquo;human

nature

is

a

combination

of

reason

and

of

irrational

behavior,&dquo;

but

also

realizing

that

experience

can

be

a

guide

to

what

will

be

lasting

and

effective

change.

And

yet

would

not

non-conservatives

agree?

Again

he

distinguishes

between

&dquo;intel-

lectual&dquo;

conservatism

and

&dquo;primitive

traditionalism&dquo;

which

must

be

sharply

separated.

What

is

the

antithesis

of

conservatism?

In

Wilson’s

view

it

is

not

radicalism

or

liberalism

or

progressivism,

but

is

essentially

a

&dquo;revolutionary&dquo;

attitude

and

spirit.

However,

when

he

attempts

to

apply

this

position