------an authoritarian at a critic the of liberal also also But no one who wishes who the one no But conservative comprehend to Bentham, James Mill, John Stuart Mill, Matthew Arnold and Bernard Bosanquet, all them of can be easily shown to beenhave liberals heart at in when the sense. broad Yet, ever the conservative story is usually told, it has attach to the ‘also’ its to main word protagonists: Bentham was not only a radical liberal utilitarian but times as well as a critic the of rights; idea of Arnold was not only a self-proclaimed liberal, but perceived as the forefathers various of strains progres of thought,sive such as utilitarianism modern or republican ism, can be considered, and with good reason, as part the of grand conservative . Scruton very appropriately includes Adam Smith among them and, more perhaps a bit surprisingly, ThomasJefferson.From these eighteenth-cen tury thinkers, an interesting genealogy is drawn spanning via nineteenth-century literary figures, such as Coleridge, Arnold and Ruskin, towards twentieth-century thinkers, including Eliot and Leavis. tradition in the stepping thought Western be avoid may skilfully the however yond Anglophone For sphere. one perform may the act givingof shape Anglo-American to , fundamental one fact remains: conservative inmoments Anglo-American political thought and experi hardlyence have ever been emancipate to able themselves fully from . often More thannot, they parasitised theon liberal which view, rose the world to dominant posi tion in these explain societies. this To point somewhat sim plistically, the difference between projects the of imagin ing the ‘liberal’ and ‘conservative’ genealogies is this. The liberal tradition can be shaped quite effortlessly, and with recourseout interpretative to excuses. Hume, Smith, Burke, standing its own on feet that liberalism to does bow not in search legitimacy. for ideal The of individual liberty still partplays in this tradition, yet other themes take a more central stage: those and community, of order obligation. ingeniousnarrative Scruton’s the forces reader rethinkto his perception the of genealogy Anglo-American of politi calthinking, discovering that many familiar names usually

------Conservatism

On this landscape Scruton Roger is a brilliant exception:

tones, one istones, offered a one conservative tradition of capable tempts re-enact to conservative imagination means by of a rich narrative the of history conservative of idea, where instead the of Burkean conservatism-litewith liberal over as an alternative allto its main varieties, including what is known as classical liberalism. And in his Scrutonthis endows vision with historical depth, as at he only, but someone whose someone thorough but self-examinationonly, leads him imagine to a conservative view world which instead remainingof a correction merely liberalism, to serve may late its postulates often findthemselves loss. at a British philosopher is who a conservative in not name a clearly-outlined alternative liberalism. to Seeing such no alternative within the leading strains Anglo-American of conservatism, the students ideology of wish who formu to vidual liberty. be to considered a full-fledged But ideology, conservatism cannot act simply as a gradualist, traditional ist, sceptical or variety liberalism; of needs it be to seen as there. Anglo-American conservatism is continuously drift ing towards the identity point of loss, readily adopting as its main premises the liberal broad principles, such as indi thought and the to brought degree clarity of for sufficient self-reflection,honest revealsit itself as almost indistin guishable from liberalism, with caveats some and here ill-suited their for convictions.reason The for this discon is obvious: tent wheneverwhat passes as ‘conservatism’ in the Anglophone is examined as a pattern of ness its its self-confidence own identity, is usually shattered. very For often practitioners the of the political machinery that calls itself discover ‘conservative’, that this is word calls itself ‘Conservative’, and so does a powerful ideologi cal current in the States United America. of when con But servatism chooses inward look to and bring into conscious mode of politicalmode of practice in English-speaking societies, appearsit be to a very efficient device that certainly dares speak its name. A leading British political party proudly Conservatism the of is one most paradoxical notions within Anglophone political thought.When is it used signify to a Web: https://huji.academia.edu/EfraimPodoksik Web: EFRAIM PODOKSIK Jerusalem of University Hebrew Email: [email protected] Scruton on Conservatism in and France and France in Germany on Conservatism Scruton VOLUME 6 | ISSUE 3 + 4 2019 6 | ISSUE VOLUME

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political mainstream of his time; Bosanquet not only ar- bined (in his thought and life) with the yearning for aes- gued for a relatively minimalist state, but his philosophical thetic and spiritual renewal out of the legacy of revolution- arguments against methodological individualism also con- ary egalitarianism (p. 73). Finally, Tocqueville’s name is tributed to a departure from classical liberalism, etc. brought to exemplify a critique of the democratic urge for Many authors who wrote on the Anglo-American con- equality in the modern age. servative tradition simply accepted this situation as given. Some other continental thinkers are mentioned in other For this reason, most of their descriptions are in fact sto- chapters in different contexts. These include Herder who is ries of . And already long ago Karl presented as a proponent of ‘’, Simone Mannheim correctly suggested English conservatism had Weil with its reformulation of patriotism, and José Ortega y traditionally been diluted by liberalism. In his view, under- Gasset who addressed the problem of the decadence of our standing conservatism required studying it where it man- civilisation. ifested itself in its paradigmatic form, and for him, such All these names make Scruton’s account of conserva- place had been nineteenth-century Germany. This interpre- tive thought richer and more distinct. The continental Eu- tation had a too limited range: important strains of conser- ropean contribution to conservatism allows to sideline the vative thought emerged also in other areas of continental motif of individual liberty which is too prominent among Europe, such as France and Russia. But Britain was always Anglo-American thinkers classified as ‘conservatives’ and a case apart. And to the extent that the elaborate illiberal to set instead other parameters: community, order and hi- conservative discourse occurred there, its intellectual ori- erarchy. Scruton accomplishes this task with a much higher gins lay on the continent. One can mention in this respect degree of sophistication than the standard liberalised ac- S.T. Coleridge and Matthew Arnold who drew inspiration counts of conservatism. Nevertheless, even Scruton’s treat- respectively from Germany and France. ment of this important aspect of the conservative tradition 53 It is no wonder then that Scruton too, unwilling to stop appears to be essentially incomplete. half-way in his elaboration of the conservative world view, The instances of continental conservatism in Scruton’s does not limit himself to discussing Anglo-American con- book are carefully disentangled from the context in which servatism, and finds inspiration also in the conservative they emerged and flourished. Hegel, for example, is not an that developed in continental Europe. Names of unambiguous choice to represent German conservatism COSMOS + TAXIS + TAXIS COSMOS continental authors are spread throughout the entire book, as such. Many conservative tropoi can be indeed squeezed and there is also an entire chapter (no. 3) dedicated specifi- out of his writings. But to the extent that they are conserva- cally to conservatism in France and Germany. In it, Ger- tive, they are not specifically Hegelian, reflecting rather an man conservatism is represented by Hegel who, as argued, instinctive critique of individualistic utilitarian liberalism remedied the liberal abstract exaggerations of Kant and common to the German philosophy of that period. Of all ‘rescued the human individual from the philosophy of indi- other figures sharing those intuitions, Hegel was perhaps vidualism’ (p. 66). He modernised the conservative culture least conservative. As Terry Pinkard argues in his biogra- of obedience by developing a theory of political order as the phy of Hegel, in strictly political terms the German phi- communal expression of ethical life, which is ‘the public losopher—an avid reader of Edinburgh Review and sym- and outward aspect of morality’ (p. 61). Similar to Burke, he pathiser of Whigs—should be considered as a moderate saw family as a key element of political order and the source liberal reformer who was allied with the reformist faction of unchosen obligations. And while upholding the auton- in the Prussian government in the hope to push towards omy of with its protection of contracts, Hegel gradual opening of the state which would secure basic lib- also upheld the identity of the state as a corporate person. erties, including the freedom of press. As for France, Scruton mentions the writings of de Mais- If one wishes to see Prussian conservatism in its purer tre, arguing that the Frenchman’s value for conservatism form, one should rather examine the ideas of thinkers such lies in his attack on the Enlightenment fascination with re- as Friedrich Julius Stahl and Adam Müller. True, these bellion against all authority and with the idea of the man- thinkers may be less helpful to formulating a programme made political order, while acknowledging that this critique for contemporary conservatism. The former—a critic of is put forward with ‘a certain remorseless extremism’ (p. Hegel—was an unabashed adept of Christian monarchy 69). Then Scruton discusses Chateaubriand who is credited and foe of what he considered ‘rationalism’, that he attrib- with the defence and advocacy of the Christian faith, com- uted to Hegel. And the latter was too nostalgic about the

Scruton on Conservatism in Germany and France ------, and there credo can better understand -liberal present elements credo anti while disen il In order to answer to In order this question, should determine one Thisitself by is feature a merely of the book rather than This is hardly work accidental. I way readThe Scruton’s tangling from it the explicitly inthe tradition can be considered as potentially fruitful. In other words, does the suggested speaking form of about politicsand lifesharpens blurs ouror vision the of contem porary social and political reality? thewhere dividing line the of current moral-political di lemmas lies. the For most part the of twentieth century, (and it is it likely(and that I read him very differentlyhe how from understands himself) is that attempts he find to conserfor vatism a conceptual location which will be situated the at most distant point from liberalism without leaving the lib eral galaxy is altogether. as It if Scruton the were captain 3 that reaches heliopause refusesbut Voyager of cross to into the interstellar space. Scruton as moves far as can he formulateto a distinctly illiberal conservatism only but to the point which does require not abandoning liberal values altogether. This is why horizontal the aspectsof conserva tism are emphasised in comparison its to vertical aspects, and thewhy thinkers fromadopted the continent are those arewho in fact friends liberalism: of the moderate reform ist the Hegel, centrist aristocratic liberal Tocqueville, the tolerant nationalist proto-Romantic and Herder the crypto- Catholic anti-nationalist Weil. its fault. In the final account, Scruton writesphilosophi a cal pamphlet and a scholarly not account the of history of conservatism. having does deny He not a is nothingwrong in trying reconstruct to a rich tradition thinkingof through which the itself. whetherquestion The is,however, this out projectof lining the parameters of is focused the on organic of notion solidaristic or commu left But nity. communitarianismalone, not is principal the characteristic conservatism; of less a no plays it impor for tantin role variousstrains socialism.of become itself, To conservatism requires the second—vertical—axis thatre hierarchical to fers relationships within the society, signi fiedby order authority, obligation notionsof and (‘tra the being dition’ an ambiguouscase, capable bearingof both the horizontal and vertical meaning). Scruton does indeed these to refer notions, especially in the the later chapter of books, as his story conservatism of is it the unravels. Yet communityideaof that takes the centre stage almostfrom the beginning, and remains there the to up end.hor The izontalaxis conservatism of salient ismore here than the vertical axis. ------enra kind con of that . Barrès was an integral na éracinés Les d , andattempted analyse to the (putting that had down roots) protected of déracinement

Similar selectiveness can be spotted only not in the way Now, this emphasis rootlessnessNow, on thought in is Weil’s thought was influencedby the agrarian conservatism Human Thibonof Weil Giono. and beingsroots, have argued, virtue by their of active participation in a col lective, which conserves in living from a social and spiritual inheritance, and which continues offer to presentiments a shared of future 123). (p. She identifiedShe the chief evilmodernof civilisation as cinement humanityin the past, and might again protect in it the future, from social corrosion. This aspecther of Or, much space much in theOr, book is given the to account of the the community. Here conservative critique liberalism of it, illiberal conservatism contains two axes which on dis it solves the phantasms atomistic of individualism. axis One is horizontal, referring the to place an of individual within Scrutonchooses thinkers also but inthe arrangeshe way the constituent concepts illiberal of conservatism. As I see servatism is be to taken as tradition, a broad both Barrès should it,to and belong even if Weil they its two represent different poles. meant provide to a humane alternative to servatism. And yet hers was a philosophical performance within the same universe discourse. of And if con French tionalist and anti-Semite, and these views indeed repelled a JewishWeil, thinker attracted Catholic to mysticism. search Her new rootedness for means by patriotism of was eth century. Another figure who immediately crops one’s in mind is Maurice Barrès, a conservative republican and the the of author novel indeed accidental, not and is it nurtured in the tradition theof conservatism French the of first halfof the twenti Scruton: call social for integration means by true of patriotism (as distinct from nationalism) which the is evoked overcome to rootlessness embedded in the modern civilisation. cite To put ratherput the on periphery that of tradition. Catholic of adoption conservatism Weil’s Simone and her tive tradition that includes thinkers such as Stahl, Müller, even Karlor Ludwig Haller, and von as the when who one weighed imaginary some on ‘conservative scales’ should be mediaeval feudal past be to relevant the for modernising societies. if is be to Hegel understood Yet, as a conservative, must behe examined in the context this of very conserva VOLUME 6 | ISSUE 3 + 4 2019 6 | ISSUE VOLUME

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in the eyes of adepts of the Western civilisation, such a di- seculisers, of China at the expense of democratic India, and viding line lay between liberty and tyranny. And since the of conservative Iranian mullahs at the expense of pro-West- ideal of liberty is the key element of broad liberalism, it is ern students. As a result, the conservative forces consoli- not surprising that the victory of the Western principles af- dated their position, without the world noticing it. More- ter the end of the Cold War made liberalism into the dom- over, this conservative counter-revolution across the world inant ideology. Two decades after, there are many authors injected such a strong degree of illiberalism into the West- who wish to believe that this dividing line is no longer rel- ern society itself that even the recovery from Obama pro- evant, and that new realities require new dichotomies, such ceeds under illiberal slogans and in the conditions of se- as globalism versus localism. But I believe that this di- verely damaged civility. agnosis is erroneous. Explaining my view in detail would The intellectual prestige of liberalism having been shat- require a separate article. Here I will limit myself to a few tered, philosophical conservatives of today offer their solu- remarks which are most essential for elucidating the issue tions. Most of these conservatives are in fact liberals in the under consideration. broad sense. The reason for my assertion is simple. A con- Globalism, populism, localism, nationalism, illiberal- servative must be agnostic towards the alternative of tyr- ism and all other fashionable -isms of today are the con- anny and liberty. And the true conservatives such as Putin sequence of the attack that the liberal order suffered in the and Obama are indeed agnostic in this respect. But for most first fifteen years of the twenty-first century, and its own- in Anglo-American conservative thinkers of today the funda- ability to recognise that it suffered an attack. The twentieth- mental principles of liberty are of overriding value. This is first-century slide into illiberalism had nothing to do with why, while escaping the Scylla of abstract liberalism, they ‘inner contradictions’ of liberalism but was a consequence also wish to avoid the Charybdis of anti-liberal conserva- of contingent political choices made by political leaders, of tism. But the question is whether there is a sufficient space 55 whom two stand out—Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama. between proud liberalism and proud anti-liberal conserva- In terms of the contemporary categories of globalism etc., tism in which an illiberal conservative option can thrive. they share nothing in common. But both are easily paired Scruton’s intellectual achievement is that he convincingly when one sticks to the older conceptual dichotomy of lib- demonstrates that such an option exists on the level of re- erty versus tyranny. Neither of the two statesmen launched flection. But can it also exist as a long-term cooperative en- COSMOS + TAXIS + TAXIS COSMOS a direct attack against the principle of liberty but both were terprise? Is it possible to maintain illiberal conservatism driven by a deep-rooted conservative suspicion of liberty for long as a thriving ideology, taking care that it includes and spontaneity. To push the direction of the events away Hegel and Weil but excludes Stahl and Barrès, let alone from the free way of life, Putin began to implement a kind Russian conservative thinkers, such as Nikolai Karamzin of Bismarckian and outside, with- and Konstantin Leontyev? I doubt it. out possessing the Bismarck’s habits of modernising and I understand Scruton’s uneasiness with pure liberalism, his gentlemanly qualities. What Putin performed openly, even if I am more relaxed than he about the liberalism’s in- Obama was doing in a clandestine way. A former commu- herent radicalism. But liberalism is a very rich intellectual nity organiser, he felt much more at ease in the hierarchi- tradition which is capable of assimilating in itself the cri- cal world. He bowed to mediaeval kings, made his White tique of individualism, the emphasis on community and the House into the place of polite sycophancy, and disdaining preference for authority and order. All these forms of cri- from republican coarseness, did his utmost to corrupt the tique can be and have occasionally been made parts of the spirit of the American constitution at home and damage liberal tradition. Yet it is the principle of liberty which al- American standing as the leader of the free world abroad. lows all those elements to obtain civilised forms and it is This allegedly progressive president brought about the in- this principle which is severely undermined, where conser- ternational multi-polar dynamics which in practice meant vatism is driven first and foremost by disdain of liberalism punishing the forces across the world that tried to emulate rather than fear of tyranny, even if it continues to pay lip the liberal model while encouraging the forces that posited service to liberty. I do not impute this character to Scruton’s themselves as ostensibly anti-Western using the value-lan- own conservatism, because I still consider him to be a lib- guage quite similar to that of European anti-liberal conser- eral conservative, perhaps malgré lui, but this evolution will vatives. Obama thus turned out to be the best ally of the be unavoidable for any conservatism that presents itself in conservative Muslim Brotherhood at the expense of Sunni explicitly illiberal clothing.

Scruton on Conservatism in Germany and France