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Traditionalist conservatism, often known asclassical conservatism, is apolitical andsocial philosophy that emphasizes the importance of transcendent moral principles, manifested through certain positednatural laws to which it is claimed society should adhere.[1] It is one of many different forms ofconservatism. Traditionalist conservatism, as known today, is rooted inEdmund Burke's political philosophy,[1] as well as the similar views ofJoseph de Maistre, who designated therationalist rejection ofChristianity during previous decades as being directly responsible for theReign of Terror which followed theFrench Revolution.[2][3] Traditionalists valuesocial ties and the preservation of ancestral institutions above what they perceive as excessiverationalism andindividualism.[1] One of the first uses of the phrase "conservatism" began around 1818 with amonarchist newspaper named "Le Conservateur", written byFrancois Rene de Chateaubriand with the help ofLouis de Bonald.
The concepts ofnation,culture,custom,convention, religious roots, andtradition are heavily emphasized in traditionalist conservatism.[4]Theoretical reason is regarded as of secondary importance topractical reason.[4] Thestate is also viewed as a social endeavor with spiritual andorganic characteristics. Traditionalists think that any positive change arises based within thecommunity's traditions rather than as a consequence of seeking a complete and deliberate break with the past.Leadership,authority, andhierarchy are seen as natural to humans.[4] Traditionalism, in the forms ofJacobitism, theCounter-Enlightenment and earlyRomanticism, arose in Europe during the 18th century as a backlash againstthe Enlightenment, as well as theEnglish andFrench Revolutions. More recent forms have included earlyGerman Romanticism,Carlism, and theGaelic revival. Traditionalist conservatism began to establish itself as an intellectual and political force in the mid-20th century.[5]
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A number of traditionalist conservatives embracehigh churchChristianity (e.g.,T. S. Eliot, anAnglo-Catholic;Russell Kirk, aRoman Catholic;Rod Dreher, anEastern Orthodox Christian). Another traditionalist who has stated his faith tradition publicly isCaleb Stegall, anevangelical Protestant. A number of conservative mainline Protestants are also traditionalists, such asPeter Hitchens andRoger Scruton, and some traditionalists are Jewish, such as the lateWill Herberg,Irving Louis Horowitz,Mordecai Roshwald,Paul Gottfried andEva Brann. There are also American Muslim traditionalist conservatives likeHamza Yusuf.[6]
Natural law is championed byThomas Aquinas in theSumma Theologiae. There, he affirms the principle ofnoncontradiction ("the same thing cannot be affirmed and denied at the same time") as being the first principle of theoretical reason, and ("good is to be done and pursued and evil avoided") as the first principle of practical reason, or that which precedes and determines one's actions.[7] The account ofMedievalChristian philosophy is the appreciation of the concept of thesummum bonum or "highest good". It is only through the silentcontemplation that someone is able to achieve the idea of thegood.[8] The rest of natural law was first developed somewhat inAristotle's work,[9][10] also was referenced and affirmed in the works byCicero,[11] and it has been developed by the ChristianAlbert the Great.[12] This is not meant to imply that traditionalist conservatives must be Thomists and embrace a robustly Thomistic natural law theory. Individuals who embrace non-Thomistic understandings of natural law rooted in, e.g., non-Aristotelian accounts affirmed in segments of Greco-Roman, patristic, medieval, and Reformation thought, can identify with traditionalist conservatism.
Traditionalists think thattradition andcustom should guide man and his worldview, as their names imply. Each generation inherits its ancestors' experience and culture, which man is able to transmit down to his offspring through custom and precedent.Edmund Burke, noted that "the individual is foolish, but the species is wise."[13] Furthermore, according toJohn Kekes, "tradition represents for conservatives a continuum enmeshing the individual and social, and is immune to reasoned critique."[14] Traditional conservatism typically preferspractical reason instead oftheoretical reason.
Conservatism, it has been argued, is based on living tradition rather than abstract political thinking. Within conservatism, political journalistEdmund Fawcett and historianXiao Gongqin argues the existence of two strains of conservative thought, a flexible conservatism associated withEdmund Burke (which allows for limited reform), and an inflexible conservatism associated withJoseph de Maistre (which is more reactionary).[15][16]
Within flexible conservatism, some commentators may break it down further, contrasting the "pragmatic conservatism" which is still quite skeptical of abstract theoretical reason, vs. the "rational conservatism" which does not have skepticism of said reason, and simply favors some sort of hierarchy as sufficient.[17]
Traditionalist conservatives believe that human society is essentiallyhierarchical (i.e., it always involves various interdependent inequalities, degrees, and classes) and that political structures that recognize this fact prove the most just, thriving, and generally beneficial. Hierarchy allows for the preservation of the whole community simultaneously, instead of protecting one part at the expense of the others.[18]
Organicism also characterizes conservative thought. Edmund Burke notably viewed society from an organicist standpoint,[19] as opposed to a more mechanistic view developed by liberal thinkers.[20] Two concepts play a role in organicism in conservative thought:
Traditional authority is a common tenet of conservatism, albeit expressed in different forms.Alexandre Kojève distinguished between two forms of traditional authority: the father (fathers, priests, monarchs) and the master (aristocrats, military commanders).[22] Obedience to said authority, whether familial or religious, continues to be a central tenet of conservatism to this day.
Integralism, typically a Catholic idea but also a broader religious one, asserts that faith and religious principles ought to be the basis for public law and policy when possible.[23] The goal of such a system is to integrate religious authority with political power.[24] While integralist principles have been sporadically associated with traditionalism, it was largely popularized by the works ofJoseph de Maistre.[25]
The countryside, as well as the values associated with it, are greatly valued (sometimes even being romanticized as in pastoral poetry).Agrarian ideals (such as conserving small family farms, open land, natural resource conservation, and land stewardship) are important to certain traditionalists' conception of rural life.[26]Louis de Bonald wrote a short piece on a comparison of the agriculturalism to industrialism.[27]
The importance of proper family structures is a common value expressed in conservatism. The concept of traditional morality is often coalesced withfamilialism andfamily values, being viewed as the bedrock of society within traditionalist thought.[28] Louis de Bonald wrote a piece on marital dissolution named "On Divorce" in 1802, outlining his opposition to the practice. Bonald stated that the broader human society was composed of three subunits (religious society – the church, domestic society – the family, public society – the state). He added that since the family made up one of these core categories, divorce would thereby represent an assault on the social order.[29]
Morality, specifically traditionalmoral values, is a common area of importance within traditional conservatism, going back to Edmund Burke. Burke believed that a notion of sensibility was at the root of man's moral intuition.[30] Furthermore, he theorized that divine moral law was both transcendent and immanent within humans.[31] While moral discussions exist across the political aisle,[32] conservatism is distinct for including notions of purity-based reasoning.[33][34] The type of morality attributed to Edmund Burke is referred to some as moral traditionalism.[35]
Communitarianism is an ideology that broadly prioritizes the importance of the community over the individual's freedoms.Joseph de Maistre was notably against individualism, and blamed Rousseau's individualism on the destructive nature of the French revolution.[36] Some may argue that the communitarian ethic has considerable overlap with the conservative movement, although they remain distinct.[37] While communitarians may draw upon similar elements of moral infrastructure to make their arguments,[38] the communitarian opposition to liberalism is still more limited than that of conservatives.[39] Furthermore, the communitarian prescription for society is more limited in scope than that ofsocial conservatives.[40] The term is typically used in two different senses; philosophical communitarianism which rejects liberal precepts and atomistic theory, vs. ideological communitarianism which is a syncretistic belief that holds in priority the positive right to social services for members of said community.[41] Communitarianism may overlap withstewardship, in an environmental sense as well.
Social order is a common tenet of conservatism, namely the maintenance ofsocial ties, whether the family or the law. The concept may also tie intosocial cohesion. Joseph de Maistre defended the necessity of the public executioner as encouraging stability. In theSt Petersburg Dialogues, he wrote: "all power, all subordination rests on the executioner: he is the horror and the bond of human association. Remove this incomprehensible agent from the world, and the very moment order gives way to chaos, thrones topple, and society disappears."[42]
The concept of social order is not exclusive to conservatism, although it tends to be fairly prevalent within it. Both Jean Jacques Rousseau and Joseph de Maistre believed in social order, the difference was that Maistre preferred the status quo, indivisibility of law and rule, and the mesh of Church with State. Meanwhile, Rousseau preferred social contract and the ability to withdraw from such (and pick the ruler) as well as a separation of Church and state. Furthermore, Rousseau went on the criticize the "cult of the state" as well.[43]
Traditionalists defend classicalWestern civilization and value an education informed by the sifting of texts starting in theRoman World and refined underMedievalScholasticism andRenaissance humanism. Similarly, traditionalist conservatives areClassicists who reverehigh culture in all of its manifestations (e.g.literature,Classical music,architecture,art, andtheatre).[citation needed]
Traditionalists considerlocalism a core principle, described as a sense of devotion to one's homeland, in contrast to nationalists, who value the role of the state or nation over thelocal community. Traditionalist conservatives believe that allegiance to family, local community, and region is often more important than political commitments. Traditionalists also prioritize community closeness above nationalist state interest, preferring thecivil society of Burke's "little platoons". However, this does not mean that Conservatives are against state authority. Quite the opposite, rather Conservatives prefer simply that the state allow and encourage units like families and churches to thrive and develop.
Alternatively, some theorists state thatnationalism can easily be radicalized and lead tojingoism, which sees the state as apart from the local community and family structure rather than as a product of both.[44]
An example of a traditionalist conservative approach to immigration may be seen in BishopJohn Joseph Frederick Otto Zardetti's September 21, 1892 "Sermon on the Mother and the Bride", which was a defence of Roman CatholicGerman-Americans desire to preserve their faith, ancestral culture, and to continue speaking theirheritage language of theGerman language in the United States, against both theEnglish only movement and accusations of beingHyphenated Americans.[45]
Edmund Burke, an Anglo-IrishWhig statesman and philosopher whose political principles were rooted in moral natural law and the Western heritage, is one of the first expositors of traditionalist conservatism, althoughToryism represented an even earlier, more primitive form of traditionalist conservatism.[46][47] Burke believed in prescriptive rights, which he considered to be "God-given". He argued for what he called "ordered liberty" (best reflected in the unwritten law of the British constitutional monarchy). He also fought for universal ideals that were supported by institutions such as the church, the family, and the state.[48] He was a fierce critic of the principles behind theFrench Revolution, and in 1790, his observations on its excesses and radicalism were collected inReflections on the Revolution in France. InReflections, Burke called for the constitutional enactment of specific, concrete rights and warned that abstract rights could be easily abused to justify tyranny. American social critic and historianRussell Kirk wrote: "TheReflections burns with all the wrath and anguish of a prophet who saw the traditions of Christendom and the fabric of civil society dissolving before his eyes."[49]
Burke's influence was felt by later intellectuals and authors in both Britain and continental Europe. The English Romantic poetsSamuel Taylor Coleridge,William Wordsworth andRobert Southey, as well as Scottish Romantic authorSir Walter Scott,[50] and the counter-revolutionary writersFrançois-René de Chateaubriand,Louis de Bonald andJoseph de Maistre were all affected by his ideas.[51] Burke's legacy was best represented in the United States by theFederalist Party and its leaders, such as PresidentJohn Adams and Secretary of the TreasuryAlexander Hamilton.[52]
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Joseph de Maistre, a French lawyer, was another founder of conservatism.[53] He was anultramontane Catholic, and thoroughly rejected progressivism and rationalism.[54] In 1796, he published a political pamphlet entitled,Considerations on France, that mirrored Burke'sReflections.[55][56][57] Maistre viewed the French revolution as "evil schism",[58] and a movement premised on the "sentiment of hatred". After the demise of Napoleon, Maistre returned to France to meet with pro-royalist circles. In 1819, Maistre published a piece calledDu Pape which outlined the Pope as the key sovereign, unto which authority derives from.[59]
Threecultural conservatives andskeptics of material development,Samuel Taylor Coleridge,Thomas Carlyle, andJohn Henry Newman, were staunch supporters of Burke's classical conservatism.
According to conservative scholar Peter Viereck, Coleridge and his colleague and fellow poetWilliam Wordsworth began as followers of theFrench Revolution and the radical utopianism it engendered. Their collection of poems,Lyrical Ballads, published in 1798, however, rejected theEnlightenment notion of reason triumphing over faith and tradition. Later works by Coleridge, such asLay Sermons (1816),Biographia Literaria (1817) andAids to Reflection (1825), defended traditional conservative positions on hierarchy and organic society, criticism of materialism and the merchant class, and the need for "inner growth" that is rooted in a traditional and religious culture. Coleridge was a strong supporter of social institutions and an outspoken opponent ofJeremy Bentham and hisutilitarian theory.[60]
Thomas Carlyle, a writer, historian, and essayist, was an early traditionalist thinker, defending medieval ideals such as aristocracy, hierarchy, organic society, and class unity against communism andlaissez-fairecapitalism's "cash nexus." The "cash nexus," according to Carlyle, occurs when social interactions are reduced to economic gain. Carlyle, a lover of the poor, claimed that mobs, plutocrats, anarchists, communists, socialists, liberals, and others were threatening the fabric of British society by exploiting them and perpetuating class animosity. A devotee of Germanic culture andRomanticism, Carlyle is best known for his works,Sartor Resartus (1833–1834) andPast and Present (1843).[61]
TheOxford Movement, a religious movement aimed at restoring Anglicanism's Catholic nature, gave theChurch of England a "catholic rebirth" in the mid-19th century. TheTractarians (so named for the publication of theirTracts for the Times) criticizedtheological liberalism while preserving "dogma, ritual, poetry, [and] tradition," led byJohn Keble,Edward Pusey, andJohn Henry Newman. Newman (who converted to Roman Catholicism in 1845 and was later made a Cardinal and a canonized saint) and the Tractarians, like Coleridge and Carlyle, were critical of material progress, or the idea that money, prosperity, and economic gain constituted the totality of human existence.[62]
Culture and the arts were also important to British traditionalist conservatives, and two of the most prominent defenders of tradition in culture and the arts wereMatthew Arnold andJohn Ruskin.
A poet and cultural commentator,Matthew Arnold is most recognized for his poems and literary, social, and religious criticism. His bookCulture and Anarchy (1869) criticized Victorian middle-class norms (Arnold referred to middle class tastes in literature as "philistinism") and advocated a return to ancient literature. Arnold was likewise skeptical of the plutocratic grasping at socioeconomic issues that had been denounced by Coleridge, Carlyle, and the Oxford Movement.[63] Arnold was a vehement critic of the Liberal Party and its Nonconformist base. He mocked Liberal efforts to disestablish the Anglican Church in Ireland, establish a Catholic university there, allow dissenters to be buried in Church of England cemeteries, demand temperance, and ignore the need to improve middle class members rather than impose their unreasonable beliefs on society. Education was essential, and by that, Arnold meant a close reading and attachment to the cultural classics, coupled with critical reflection.[64] He feared anarchy—the fragmentation of life into isolated facts that is caused by dangerous educational panaceas that emerge from materialistic and utilitarian philosophies. He was appalled at the shamelessness of the sensationalistic new journalism of the sort he witnessed on his tour of the United States in 1888. He prophesied, "If one were searching for the best means to efface and kill in a whole nation the discipline of self-respect, the feeling for what is elevated, he could do no better than take the American newspapers."[65]
One of the issues that traditionalist conservatives have often emphasized is that capitalism is just as suspect as theclassical liberalism that gave birth to it.[66] Cultural and artistic criticJohn Ruskin, a medievalist who considered himself a "Christian communist" and cared much about standards in culture, the arts, and society, continued this tradition. TheIndustrial Revolution, according to Ruskin (and all 19th-century cultural conservatives), had caused dislocation, rootlessness, and vast urbanization of the poor. He wroteThe Stones of Venice (1851–1853), a work of art criticism that attacked the Classical heritage while upholding Gothic art and architecture.The Seven Lamps of Architecture andUnto This Last (1860) were two of his other masterpieces.[67]
Burke, Coleridge, Carlyle, Newman, and other traditionalist conservatives' beliefs were distilled into former British Prime MinisterBenjamin Disraeli's politics and ideology. When he was younger, Disraeli was an outspoken opponent of middle-class capitalism and the Manchester liberals' industrial policies (the Reform Bill and the Corn Laws). In order to ameliorate the suffering of the urban poor in the aftermath of the Industrial Revolution, Disraeli proposed "one-nation conservatism," in which a coalition of aristocrats and commoners would band together to counter the liberal middle class's influence. This new coalition would be a way to interact with disenfranchised people while also rooting them in old conservative principles. Disraeli's ideas (especially his critique ofutilitarianism) were popularized in the "Young England" movement and in books likeVindication of the English Constitution (1835),The Radical Tory (1837), and his "social novels,"Coningsby (1844) andSybil (1845).[68] His one-nation conservatism was revived a few years later inLord Randolph Churchill's Tory democracy and in the early 21st century in British philosopherPhillip Blond'sRed Tory thesis.
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In the early 20th century, traditionalist conservatism found its defenders through the efforts ofHilaire Belloc,G. K. Chesterton and other proponents of the socioeconomic system they advocated:distributism. Originating in the papal encyclicalRerum novarum, distributism employed the concept ofsubsidiarity as a "third way" solution to the twin evils of communism and capitalism. It favors local economies, small business, the agrarian way of life and craftsmen and artists. Otto von Bismarck implemented one of the first modern welfare systems in Germany during the 1880s. Traditional communities akin to those found in the Middle Ages were advocated in books like Belloc'sThe Servile State (1912),Economics for Helen (1924), andAn Essay on the Restoration of Property (1936), and Chesterton'sThe Outline of Sanity (1926), while big business and big government were condemned. Distributist views were accepted in the United States by the journalistHerbert Agar and Catholic activistDorothy Day as well as through the influence of the German-born British economistE. F. Schumacher, and were comparable toWilhelm Roepke's work.[69]
T. S. Eliot was a staunch supporter of Western culture and traditional Christianity. Eliot was a political reactionary who used literary modernism to achieve traditionalist goals. Following in the footsteps ofEdmund Burke,Samuel Taylor Coleridge,Thomas Carlyle,John Ruskin,G. K. Chesterton, andHilaire Belloc, he wroteAfter Strange Gods (1934), andNotes towards the Definition of Culture (1948). At Harvard University, where he was educated byIrving Babbitt andGeorge Santayana, Eliot was acquainted withAllen Tate andRussell Kirk.[70]
T. S. Eliot praisedChristopher Dawson as the most potent intellectual influence in Britain, and he was a prominent player in 20th-century traditionalism. The belief that religion was at the center of all civilization, especially Western culture, was central to his work, and his books reflected this view, notablyThe Age of Gods (1928),Religion and Culture (1948), andReligion and the Rise of Western Culture (1950). Dawson, a contributor to Eliot'sCriterion, believed that religion and culture were crucial to rebuilding the West after World War II in the aftermath offascism and the advent ofcommunism.[71]
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Roger Scruton, a British philosopher, was a self-described traditionalist and conservative. One of his most well-known books,The Meaning of Conservatism (1980), is on foreign policy, animal rights, arts and culture, and philosophy. Scruton was a member of theAmerican Enterprise Institute, theInstitute for the Psychological Sciences, theTrinity Forum, and theCenter for European Renewal.Modern Age,National Review,The American Spectator,The New Criterion, andCity Journal were among the many publications for which he wrote.
Phillip Blond, a British philosopher, has recently gained notoriety as a proponent of traditionalist philosophy, specifically progressive conservatism, orRed Toryism. Blond believes that Red Toryism would rejuvenateBritish conservatism and society by combining civiccommunitarianism,localism, and traditional values. He has formed a think tank,ResPublica.
The oldest traditionalist publication in the United Kingdom isThe Salisbury Review, which was founded by British philosopherRoger Scruton. TheSalisbury Review's current managing editor is Merrie Cave.
A group of traditionalist MPs known as theCornerstone Group was created in 2005 within theBritish Conservative Party. The Cornerstone Group represents "faith, flag, and family" and stands for traditional values.Edward Leigh andJohn Henry Hayes are two notable members.
TheEdmund Burke Foundation is a traditionalist educational foundation established in the Netherlands and is modeled after theIntercollegiate Studies Institute. It was created by traditionalists such as academicAndreas Kinneging and journalistBart Jan Spruyt as a think tank. TheCenter for European Renewal is linked with it.
In 2007, a number of leading traditionalist scholars from Europe, as well as representatives of the Edmund Burke Foundation and the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, created theCenter for European Renewal, which is designed to be the European version of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute.
TheFederalists had no ties to European-style nobility, royalty, or organized churches when it came to "classical conservatism."John Adams was one of the first champions of a traditionalsocial order.[72]
TheWhig Party had an approach that mirrored Burkean conservatism in the post-Revolutionary era.Rufus Choate argued that lawyers were the guardians and preservers of the Constitution.[73] In the antebellum period,George Ticknor andEdward Everett were the "Guardians of Civilization."Orestes Brownson examined how America satisfies Catholic tradition and Western civilization. TheSouthern Agrarians, or Fugitives, were another group of traditionalist conservatives. In 1930, some of the Fugitives publishedI'll Take My Stand, which applied agrarian standards to politics and economics.
Following WWII, the initial stirrings of a "traditionalist movement" emerged. Certain conservative scholars and writers garnered the attention of the popular press.Russell Kirk'sThe Conservative Mind, an expansion of his PhD dissertation written in Scotland, was the book that defined the traditionalist school. Kirk was an independent scholar, writer, critic, and man of letters. He was friends withWilliam F. Buckley Jr., aNational Review columnist, editor, and syndicated columnist. WhenBarry Goldwater combated theRepublican Party's Eastern Establishment in 1964, Kirk backed him in the primaries and campaigned for him.[74] After Goldwater's defeat, theNew Right reunited in the late 1970s and found a new leader inRonald Reagan. Ronald Reagan created a coalition of libertarians, foreign-policy hawks, business conservatives, as well as Christian social conservatives and maintained his power by solidifying a newer form of conservative alliance that would continue to dominate the political landscape of the American conservatism to this day.
TheTrinity Forum,Ellis Sandoz's Eric Voegelin Institute and the Eric Voegelin Society, the Conservative Institute's New Centurion Program, the T. S. Eliot Society, the Malcolm Muggeridge Society, and the Free Enterprise Institute's Center for the American Idea are all traditionalist groups. The Wilbur Foundation is a prominent supporter of traditionalist activities, particularly the Russell Kirk Center.
Literary traditionalists are frequently associated withpolitical conservatives and theright wing, whilstexperimental works and theavant-garde are frequently associated withprogressives and theleft wing.John Barth, apostmodern writer and literary theorist, said: "I confess to missing, in apprentice seminars in the later 1970s and the 1980s, that lively Make-It-New spirit of the Buffalo Sixties. A roomful of young traditionalists can be as depressing as a roomful of young Republicans."[75]
James Fenimore Cooper,Nathaniel Hawthorne,James Russell Lowell,W. H. Mallock,Robert Frost andT. S. Eliot are among the literary figures covered inRussell Kirk'sThe Conservative Mind (1953). The writings ofRudyard Kipling andPhyllis McGinley are presented as instances of literary traditionalism in Kirk'sThe Conservative Reader (1982). Kirk was also a well-known author of spooky and suspense fiction with a Gothic flavor.Ray Bradbury andMadeleine L'Engle both praised novels such asOld House of Fear,A Creature of the Twilight, andLord of the Hollow Dark as well as short stories such as "Lex Talionis", "Lost Lake", "Beyond the Stumps", "Ex Tenebris," and "Fate's Purse." Kirk was also close friends with a number of 20th-century literary heavyweights, includingT. S. Eliot,Roy Campbell,Wyndham Lewis,Ray Bradbury,Madeleine L'Engle,Fernando Sánchez Dragó, andFlannery O'Connor, all of whom wrote conservative poetry or fiction.
Evelyn Waugh andG. K. Chesterton – British novelists andtraditionalist Catholics – are often considered traditionalist conservatives.[76]
{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)Many treat it as a standpoint that is sceptical of abstract reasoning in politics, and that appeals instead to living tradition, allowing for the possibility of limited political reform. On this view, conservatism is neither dogmatic reaction, nor the right-wing radicalism of Margaret Thatcher or contemporary American "neo-conservatives". Other commentators, however, contrast this "pragmatic conservatism" with a universalist "rational conservatism" that is not sceptical of reason, and that regards a community with a hierarchy of authority as most conducive to human well-being
Conservatism's "organic" social vision is inherently sceptical of the state, and puts faith instead in the family, private property and religion
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