For many decades now, America’s political life has been divided between people who call themselves “conservatives” and people who call themselves “liberals” or “progressives.” This
The common belief that it is impossible (or, if not impossible, then so unpromising as to be not worth while attempting) to elicit explanatory general principles from what is recog
I was brought up at a time when half the English people voted Conservative at national elections and almost all English intellectuals regarded the term “conservative” as a term of
Conservatism and its modernising, anti-traditionalist rivals, liberalism and socialism, are the most influential political philosophies and ideologies of the post-Enlightenment era
Conservatism is an approach to human affairs which mistrusts both a priori reasoning and revolution, preferring to put its trust in experience and in the gradual improvement
Edmund Burke, author of Reflections on the Revolution in France, is known to a wide public as a classic political thinker: it is less well understood that his intellectual achievem
When he presents the heart of his redemptive mission, Jesus says: "I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly" (Jn 10:10). In truth, he is referring to that "new" and "
Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth; and God has placed in the human heart a desire to know the truth—in a word, to kn
Conservatism can be understood in different ways, specifically as relating to moral, cultural, and political matters. In general, the conservative believes that common human experience across times and places has revealed the value of certain practices and arrangements. These have stood the test of time because they are conducive to human flourishing. Thus, the conservative favours deeply rooted moral and cultural values and believes that these will be found in all longstanding and healthy societies. Central to such values are freedom and responsibility, work and leisure, family and property, custom and respect. Conservatives also tend to believe that these values are discovered and celebrated through living in accord with them rather than being the product of abstract theory. Hence conservatives are suspicious of ideologies particularly revolutionary and utopian ones which seek to displace existing traditions. Critics of conservatism see it as uncritical, self-contented, resistant to change, and unwelcoming to those who cannot or choose not to conform to established patterns of life. In relation to religious belief and practice, conservatism is sometimes equated with ‘traditionalism’.