Conservatism: An Anthology of Social and Political Thought from David Hume to the Present

Jerry Z. Muller

Published by Princeton University Press 1997

Conservatism

An Anthology of Social and Political Thought from David Hume to the Present

Jerry Z. Muller

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780691213118

Overview
Contents

About this book

At a time when the label "conservative" is indiscriminately applied to fundamentalists, populists, libertarians, fascists, and the advocates of one or another orthodoxy, this volume offers a nuanced and historically informed presentation of what is distinctive about conservative social and political thought. It is an anthology with an argument, locating the origins of modern conservatism within the Enlightenment and distinguishing between conservatism and orthodoxy. Bringing together important specimens of European and American conservative social and political analysis from the mid-eighteenth century through our own day, Conservatism demonstrates that while the particular institutions that conservatives have sought to conserve have varied, there are characteristic features of conservative argument that recur over time and across national borders.

The book proceeds chronologically through the following sections: Enlightenment Conservatism (David Hume, Edmund Burke, and Justus Möser), The Critique of Revolution (Burke, Louis de Bonald, Joseph de Maistre, James Madison, and Rufus Choate), Authority (Matthew Arnold, James Fitzjames Stephen), Inequality (W. H. Mallock, Joseph A. Schumpeter), The Critique of Good Intentions (William Graham Sumner), War (T. E. Hulme), Democracy (Carl Schmitt, Schumpeter), The Limits of Rationalism (Winston Churchill, Michael Oakeshott, Friedrich Hayek, Edward Banfield), The Critique of Social and Cultural Emancipation (Irving Kristol, Peter Berger and Richard John Neuhaus, Hermann Lübbe), and Between Social Science and Cultural Criticism (Arnold Gehlen, Philip Rieff). The book contains an afterword on recurrent tensions and dilemmas of conservative thought.

Author / Editor information

Jerry Z. Muller is Professor of History at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. His previous books, Adam Smith in His Time and Ours: Designing the Decent Society and The Other God That Failed: Hans Freyer and the Deradicalization of German Conservatism are available from Princeton in paperback.

Reviews

"Jerry Muller's thoughtful primer on conservative thinkers from David Hume to the present day is timely. If the dispossessed of the right feel the need to go back to basics, they could do worse than start here. . . . This anthology, with Muller's useful introductions to the work of two dozen or so political theorists, reminds us that conservatism has always been the most amorphous of political philosophies."---Philip Stephens, Financial Times

"A richly diverse, intelligently designed, and helpfully annotated introduction to the world of conservative theory. No comparable collection that I know of is as broad and unparochial as this one."—Thomas Pangle, University of Toronto

"Muller's book is a bracing commentary on the present-day condition of American conservatism, and a welcome invitation to rethink what conservatives ought to be conserving."---Charles R. Kesler, Wilson Quarterly

"Mr. Miller has covered the bases well, giving a good accounting of the breadth and variety of the subject he anthologizes."---Stephen Goode, Washington Times

"A smartly designed anthology. Muller is a capable teacher. . . . He brings a freshness to old standbys like Edmund Burke and James Madison and unearths fascinating conservative passages from Winston Churchill and several lesser lights. The readings may be the meat of the book, but Muller's take on conservatism is its lifeblood. His afterword. . . is nothing short of brilliant. . . . Muller's exciting anthology effectively shows that conservatism, for all its apparent stodginess, is remarkably alive and organic."---John J. Miller, The Detroit News

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
CONTENTS Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
PREFACE Publicly Available Download PDF	xiii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Publicly Available Download PDF	xvii
Introduction: What is Conservative Social and Political Thought? Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Chapter 1. Enlightenment Conservatism
"Of Justice," from An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals (1751) David Hume Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	32
Edmund Burke "Preface" to A Vindication of Natural Society (Second Edition, 1757) Edmund Burke Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	63
"On the Diminished Disgrace of Whores and Their Children in Our Day" (1772) Justus Moser Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	70
"No Promotion According to Merit" (c. 1770) Introduction Justus Moser Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	74
Chapter 2. The Critique of Revolution
Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790) Edmund Burke Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	78
On Divorce (1801) Louis de Bonald Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	123
Essay on the Generative Principle of Political Constitutions and of Other Human Institutions (1814) Joseph de Maistre Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	134
"Federalist No. 49" (1788) James Madison Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	146
"The Position and Functions of the American Bar, as an Element of Conservatism in the State" (1845) Rufus Choate Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	152
Chapter 3. Authority
Culture and Anarchy (1869) Matthew Arnold Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	167
Liberty, Equality, Fraternity (1874) James Fitzjames Stephen Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	187
Chapter 4. Inequality
Aristocracy and Evolution: A Study of the Rights, the Origin, and Social Functions of the Wealthier Classes (1898) W. H. Mallock Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	210
"Aptitude and Social Mobility" (1927) Joseph A. Schumpeter Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	222
Chapter 5. The Critique of Good Intentions
"Sociological Fallacies" (1884) "On the Case of a Certain Man Who Is Never Thought Of" (1883) William Graham Sumner Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	233
"An Examination of a Noble Sentiment" (c. 1887) William Graham Sumner Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	233
Chapter 6. War
"Essays on War" (1916) T. E. Hulme Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	249
Chapter 7. Democracy
"When Parliament Cannot be Sovereign" (1931) Carl Schmitt Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	261
"Political Leadership and Democracy" (1942) Joseph A. Schumpeter Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	275
Chapter 8. The Limits of Rationalism
"Speech on Rebuilding the House of Commons" (1943) Winston Churchill Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	285
"Rationalism in Politics" (1947) Michael Oakeshott Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	290
"The Errors of Constructivism" (1970) and The Mirage of Social Justice (1973) Friedrich Hayek Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	313
The Unheavenly City Revisited (1974) Edward Banfield Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	335
Chapter 9. The Critique of Social and Cultural Emancipation
"Pornography, Obscenity, and the Case for Censorship" (1971) Irving Kristol Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	358
To Empower People: The Role of Mediating Structures in Public Policy (1977 Peter L. Berger and Richard John Neuhaus Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	372
"The Social Consequences of Attempts to Create Equality" (1984) Hermann Lubbe Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	390
Chapter 10. Between Social Science and Cultural Criticism
"On Culture, Nature, and Naturalness" (1958) and "Man and Institutions" (1960) Arnold Gehlen Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	401
"Toward a Theory of Culture" (1966) Philip Rieff Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	411
Afterword: Recurrent Tensions and Dilemmas of Conservative Thought Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	421
Guide to Further Reading Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	427
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	443