Political Theory

Political Theory Finalists’ class HT10

In these classes we concentrate on three key concepts that you have analysed before: freedom, equality and authority. We are now going to look at these concepts from the standpoints of of conservative political thought, and that way bring into focus the liberal tradition.

Session 1. (Wk 6) The conservative tradition Read at least one of Andrew Vincent Modern Political Ideologies ch n Michael Freeden Ideologies and Political Theory ch 8 (or similar)

Key conservative texts: Edmund Burke Reflections on the Revolution in France 1790 Benjamin Disraeli ‘Vindication of the English Constitution’ (1835) in Disraeli Whigs and Whiggism ed W. Hutcheon, London, John Murray 1913. Treitschke, Heinrich von. Politics. Translated by Blanche Dugdale and Torben de Bille. Introduction Arthur James Balfour ed. 2 volumes vols. London: Constable and Company, 1916 fp German 1896. vol I Michael Oakeshott On Human Conduct chs II and III (‘Civil condition’ and ‘Character of a modern European state’); 'On Being Conservative' in Rationalism in Politics

1. What are the key conservative values implicit in this text? 2. What are the main analytic or descriptive concepts constituting the argument and analysis of this text? (another way of putting this is: what, according to this text, are the key elements or constituents of the social world?) 3. What, according to your best interpretation of this text, does the author propose as a strategy for maintaining the desirable conservative state and society?

Session 2. (Wk 8) Freedom, Equality, Authority. Michael Oakshott ‘The Political Economy of Freedom’ and 'Rationalism in Politics' in Rationalism in Politics and other essays G E M Anscombe ‘On the Source of the Authority of the State’ in Raz Authority F.A.Hayek ‘Why I am not a Conservative’ postscript to The Constitution of Liberty (fp 1960)

To what kind of freedom must a conservative be committed? Does 'equality' have any place in conservative thought? How do conservatives understand the nature of 'authority'? compare this to liberal accounts of authority.

EJF ii.10