Political Science 1020E Lecture Notes - Lecture 17: Joseph De Maistre
10 Dec 2016
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Organic conception of society and the state. Liberals: for rational justification and transparency; against superstition and tradition. Conservatives: suspicious of reason; favour sentiment over scrutiny. Classical conservatives: hierarchy, tradition, anti-revolution, flawed human beings. Contemporary conservatives: small government, small markets, strong military. Against the revolutionaries" views of human nature, society, freedom, and. Freedom: freedom is not necessarily good, rights are concrete, not abstract and universal, burke favours ordered liberty to act in accordance with society"s laws and traditions. Revolution and reform: revolution, radicalism, innovation are all mistaken, reform: careful, gradual, recognizes complexity of society. Burke on government: reflective, responsible, representative, representatives should be trustees who prefer their own judge to the people"s opinion, natural aristocracy and little platoons. Maistre measure: reactionary, (cid:498)throne and altar(cid:499): monarchy and church. Against enlightenment rationality: prises instinct, the image of the executioner. The rhetoric of reaction: three types of objection to revolutionary change.
