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Title: The Conservative Mind: From Burke to Eliot by Russell Kirk ISBN: 0-89526-171-5 Publisher: Regnery Publishing Pub. Date: November, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.06 (18 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: The heritage of conservative thought is rich...
Comment: One of the important things about this book is that it examines conservative thinkers who weren't primarily known as politicians or political thinkers (e.g. Scott and Eliot). I appreciated Mr. Kirk's lucid examination of the keepers of the conservative flame. I also found it eye-opening as to the relationship between conservatives and what are known today as libertarians (exemplified by the struggles in the Republican party between its social-conservative wing and its supply-side, libertarian wing). The intellectual foundations of this conflict make a great deal of sense when laid bare by Mr. Kirk. His treatment of Burke is one of the finest I have seen and his study of southern thinkers prior to the Civil War deftly balances Hofstadter's in "The American Political Tradition".
Later, when reading a biography of Gladstone, I found that I understood the conflicts between himself and Disraeli (and, in some instances, members of his own party) with far more precision than I would have without this book as a background.
Finally, it should be read simply because people should be introduced to the heritage that informs their conservative impulses. Battles are often lost simply because people do not believe they have the intellectual high-ground - when, in fact, they do. This book is a new round of combat in the struggle of freedom - the struggle that is never lost, says Mr. Kirk, because it is never won. That's a refreshing and often needed perspective.
A fine piece of intellectual history and a resounding answer to Mill's quip that "the conservatives were the stupid party".
Kelly Whiting
Rating: 4
Summary: This book defines the principles of conservatism.
Comment: Russell Kirk's The Conservative Mind is a catalog of the thoughts of men, both British and American, whom Kirk regarded as eminent (albeit sometimes obscure) conservatives. They range in historical sequence from Edmund Burke (1729-1797) to contemporary scholars. Although this book is not an instruction manual for conservative politicians and activists, it will provide conservatives with both a clear understanding of conservatism's basic principles and a cogent defense of those principles. One of the major insights that this book offered was the central role of religion in society: Revealed religion is the source of Western morality; law was created to enforce that morality; the state enforces the law, so the state is an instrument of religion. Another insight was the hubris of nineteenth and twentieth century reformers, who thought that they could legislate happiness and freedom, but who instead created industrial slums and domineering central governments. The overall tone of the work is pessimistic, often despairing: the repeated theme is that from an idyllic, aristocratic, agricultural society united under Christianity the world has decayed to a lonely, atomized, atheistic, cold-blooded industrial society. In the face of such decline, the conservative can only try to salvage or resurrect bits of traditional society -- manners, customs, faith in Providence, etc. Again, the book is of limited practical value: The author's aim is merely to define conservatism, which he does explicitly only in chapter one. He offers neither explicit criteria for distinguishing desirable from undesirable change, nor strategies for forestalling the latter. The book is difficult both because Kirk provides no biographical information about his subjects and because he assumes a detailed knowledge of history. The author's style is literary rather than academic. When he outlines another author's work, it's not always clear where the summary ceases and Kirk's comments begin. Despite these shortcomings, no one should call himself a conservative until he has read this book and understands the principles that he's defending.
Rating: 5
Summary: Moral Absolutism and Natural Aristocracy
Comment: You don't have to be a Conservative to like this book. I found it very useful in understanding the basic worldview from which a Conservative might operate; and from that, one can make good assumptions as to how Conservatives view Liberals. Kirk's thinking is profound, his reading extensive, and his arguments well-written. The major points I took away from this discussion are:
1) The Conservative assumes that the design of the world is not by accident, but by transcendental purpose. Metaphysical, permanent standards of Right and Wrong exist: moral standards are not relative. Similarly, the structure of society is not arbitrary. We should not attempt to alter society using science or social engineering, because we are strictly human, and our understanding is limited. Change, when it happens, should be modulated in such a way as to limit its effects on society.
2) A "natural aristocracy" exists in any society. It consists of the best and brightest individuals, and perhaps those born with reserves of wealth. No legislation or voter majority can eliminate it. John Adams defines a member of the natural aristocracy (in a Democracy) as anyone who has the power to influence at least one vote other than his own.
3) Individuals are born with certain Natural Rights, consisting primarily of property rights. Government should always act to protect property rights, especially in a Democracy, where the poorest elements of society may employ their voting power to redistribute the possessions of the wealthy few. A Democracy that gives unmitigated power to the people quickly deteriorates into the worst kind of tyranny.
4) Instincts and prejudices frequently have meaning: the individual may be foolsh, but the species is wise. The thinking of a few bright persons should not take precedence over tradition.
Most of this comes out of Edmund Burke. The Natural Aristocracy theory is primarily from John Adams. The dozens of other conservative thinkers that Kirk discusses tend to modify or enhance the thinking of Burke and Adams. De Tocqueville, for example, sounds the alarm over the potential "Tyranny of Democracy", but that seems to follow from Burke's thinking on natural rights.
I had a few exceptions with some minor points. Kirk argues, for one, that the American Revolution was somehow a "conservative revolution"; but I think you could make a more convincing case that it was in fact an Enlightenment-Liberal revolution. Also, he has a tendency to lump all of the different Liberals and Leftists together into a single agglomeration of "Benthamites" (after the British utilitarian/socialist philosopher Jeremy Bentham).
On the whole, however, I can recommend this one to any reader interested in understanding how people think politically.
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Title: The Conservative Intellectual Movement in America by George H. Nash ISBN: 188292620X Publisher: Intercollegiate Studies Inst Pub. Date: April, 1998 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: The Road to Serfdom by F. A. Hayek ISBN: 0226320618 Publisher: University of Chicago Press (Trd) Pub. Date: September, 1994 List Price(USD): $9.48 |
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Title: Witness by Whittaker Chambers ISBN: 0895267896 Publisher: Regnery Publishing Pub. Date: September, 1987 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Ideas Have Consequences by Richard M. Weaver ISBN: 0226876802 Publisher: University of Chicago Press Pub. Date: September, 1984 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: The American Cause by Russell Kirk ISBN: 1882926935 Publisher: ISI Books Pub. Date: January, 2003 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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