The Impact of Contemporary Conservatism On Modern Political Thought

• Published date: 01 June 1988
• Date: 01 June 1988
• DOI: 10.1177/106591298804100212
• Author: Barbara M. Rowland
• Subject Matter: Articles

THE

IMPACT

OF

CONTEMPORARY

CONSERVATISM

ON

MODERN

POLITICAL

THOUGHT:

A

Review

Essay

BARBARA

M.

ROWLAND

Northern

Arizona

University

Michael

Clark.

1983.

Coherent

Variety:

The

Idea

of Diversity

in

British

and

American

Conservative

Thought.

Westpost,

Connecticut:

Green-

wood

Press.

Pp.

228.

$35.00.

John

Gray.

1986.

Hayek

On

Liberty.

2nd

ed.

New

York:

Basil

Blackwell,

Pp.

288.

$12.95.

Paul Johnson.

1985

Modern

Times:

The

World from

the

Twenties

to

the

Eighties.

New

York:

Harper

and

Row.

Pp.

832. ~ 10.95.

ONSERVATIVES

are

skeptical

about

the

rise

of

individualism

and

~

the

decline

of

tradition

in

modern

societies.

Unless

that

individu-

alism

is

tempered

by

and

anchored

in

awareness

of

a

larger

and

more

compelling

cultural

context,

a

context

in

which

the

issues

of

or-

der,

obligation,

and

collectively

shared

meaning

are

predominant,

con-

servatives

fear

that

our

cherished

freedom

of

the

individual

will

lead

us

into

social

chaos.

This

fear

alongside

the

preoccupation

with

the

cultural

context

leads

even

thoughtful

conservatives

toward

affirmation

of

the

status

quo

and

an

uncritical

embrace

of

tradition.

This

unfortunate

and

unnecessary

outcome

has

obscured

the

insights

conservative

thought

can

contribute

to

our

understanding

of

individualism.

Coherent

Variety,

Modern

Times,

and

Hayek

on

Liberty

illustrate

the

continuing

presence

in

contemporary

conservative

thought

of

a

central

core

of

ideas.

They

articulate

&dquo;a

philosophy

of

imperfection,

committed

to

the idea

of

limits,

and

directed

towards

the

defence

of

a

limited

style

of

politics&dquo;

(O’Sullivan

1976:

12).

Despite

this

consistent

focus

on

hu-

man

imperfection,

the

works

under

review

also

indicate

the

divisions

within

conservative

thought

and

point

to

the

difficulties

of

reconciling

them.

O’Sullivan

as

well

as

Nash

(1976)

note

similar

tripartite

categori-

zations.

A

theological

or

traditional

variety

of

conservatism

views

hu-

man

inperfection

as

a

permanent

fixture

in

a

divinely

ordained

universe.

The

historical

variety

contrasts

the

limits

of

human

knowledge

about

or-

dering

society

at

any

given

point

in

time

with

the

wisdom

to

be

gleaned

from

the

accumulated

lessons

of

history.

A

classical

liberal

or

skeptical

variation

regards

the

great

difficulties

of

achieving

compromise

among

values

in

the

absence

of

certainty

about

truth

as

good

cause

for

respect-

ing

existing

solutions

and

orders.

While

each

of

the

works

under

review

contains

elements

from

all

three

voices,

Coherent

Variety

is

anchored

in

the

theological

variation,

and

Hayek’s

work

reflects

the

classical

liberal

strand.

Modern

Times

occupies

a

middle

ground,

a

position

interesting

for

its

effort

to

blend

the

theological

with

the

classical

liberal

positions.