Constitutions

Reading: de Maistre, The Generative Principle of Constitutions. The United States Constitution is a document, assumed to have a precise, if disputed, meaning, which lays down the fundamental procedures and offices under which the country as a whole is to be governed, and defines the rights and duties of the citizens …(Read More)

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Some Conclusions

If we look back to the first class, where I outlined some of the currents in conservative thinking, and gave a preliminary list of the important topics – the points where the conservative view is, as it were put to the test, either of fact or of thought – we …(Read More)

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Topics That Should Also be Discussed

Philosophical anthropology: the conservative view of the nature of the person, of responsibility, inter-personal attitudes, freedom, shame, pride, sin and redemption. Democracy: the conservative view of the democratic process, its limits and preconditions. The nature of hierarchies and what makes them acceptable. Checks and balances. The nation: the relative merits of territorial and …(Read More)

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Hayek and Conservatism

In the well known postscript to The Constitution of Liberty, entitled ‘Why I am not a Conservative’, Hayek states what he calls ‘the decisive objection to any conservatism which deserves to be called such’, which is ‘that by its very nature it cannot offer an alternative to the direction in which …(Read More)

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