HOW CONSERVATIVES THINK - Conservative Philosophy Explained!

depending on where you lie on the political spectrum the word conservative can either produce a feeling of pride or a feeling of contempt so one person it might mean nobody standing your ground in the face of an evasion of toxic ideologies and to another person who might categorize the act the holding the world back from becoming a better place if you've been paying attention to the current state of the Western world you can know that sense the rising tension between the two dominant political philosophies you saw it in England with brexit you saw it in the u.s. with Donald Trump becoming president and you now see it in Canada with Doug Ford in the rise of the Progressive Conservative Party but why is there so much tension why is the conversation about conservatism so polarizing is it truly an evil doctrine only followed by racists and homophobes or liberals just to brainwash to understand its true nature my personal speculation is that both of these statements are wrong and that a lot of people on both sides of the spectrum don't truly understand what it means to be a conservative and that's where this video comes in on this channel my goal is to take relevant mysterious or polarizing phenomenons and use them as an opportunity to reveal and educate people about the underlying philosophies behind them and in this video we're gonna focus on the philosophy of conservatism and hopefully I'll come out of it with the more objective and enlightened understanding of the matter but before that don't forget to Like and subscribe for more informative videos and to help my channel grow but without further ado let's get into it [Music] many people on the left view conservatives as being nostalgic self-interested in a rationally prejudiced and a limited at one point I too shared that same opinion that is until I did the proper research the more read about this philosophy the more understandable the existence of this mindset became after all would be popular if it was absent from at least some validity now there are many different types of conservatism such as neoconservatism progressive conservatism libertarian conservatism etc in each with its own nuances governed by history geography but for the sake of this video I'm just gonna focus on the core foundational beliefs shared by most if not all conservatives so to begin with let's look at the definition of conservatism conservatism in a nutshell is the commitment to traditional values and traditions with opposition to change or innovation or more specifically the holding of political views that favor free enterprise private ownership and socially conservative ideas this my said has always been present among human beings on a personality basis which we'll get into later but let's look into how conservatism as an organized philosophy first came to be as it is crucial to understanding it on a macro level conservatism in his monitor state can be traced back to the 18th century philosopher Edmund Burke in the 1790 work titled reflections on the revolution in France Burke was outspoken and critical of the widespread adoption of revolutionary ideologies of the time that were bubbling in France and the violence that took place as a result of their prevalence you blew that society something more than just a collection of abstractions created by the minds of some random philosophers he believed it was something more real or organic and how the accumulated wisdom of previous generations and therefore should be treated with more respect based on this belief Burke was very suspicious of change and believed that it was something that should happen incrementally taking an evolutionary approach rather than revolutionary so it does not shake up the tranquillity of society conservatism in a sense is a philosophy of conservation in the view history as being static they observe that human nature never really changes and neither do basic economics ethics and laws of society when the need for societal change eventually does appear they believe it will and should happen by means of gradual accommodation there is recognition by the individuals within the society therefore from the conservative standpoint the way to achieve and maintain a utopian society is to ensure the freedom of the individuals they argue that if you instead try to have forced change in the form of radical reform you're in fact manifesting the same type of authoritarianism that you did test therefore reversing the progress that was supposed to result in more freedom and this happens to be a factual claim watch a documentary about what happened in the Soviet Union or in Mao's China in an attempt to make people more free they made people less free conservatives recognized that change is inevitable but they also recognize that not all change is progress another core belief with the in conservative philosophy is that the concept of society more or less doesn't exist in that there are only individuals through this presupposition you can draw many conclusions and opinions for example when it comes to crime conservatives see it as a failure on one's character as opposed to it being the fault of societal conditions because to them society doesn't even really exist so that lens you can see why they support being tough on crime and are generally apathetic towards claims of societal problems if you voice your problems to a conservative you'll most likely be told to look within your own self and to change your personal actions instead of trying to change the system as a whole I believe that these two beliefs are the most key factors of what it means to be a conservative but let's continue with the summary of some more widely accepted virtues number one is transcend in order conservatives believe that there exists a transcendent moral order that humans must conform the ways of society - and that was the absence of some higher authority of peaceful societies impossible to maintain number two is social continuity conservatives believe that presidents social conditions are the result of a long and painful social experience and is the product of trial reflection and sacrifice therefore revolutions are like slicing the arteries of culture number three is prescription conservatives argue that we bought humans are unlikely to make any new discoveries in morals or in politics so we should instead rely on the wisdom of our ancestors number four is prudence conservatives uphold the belief that government should only act after considering the long-term consequences first and that change should always be slow and incremental number five is variety for the preservation of healthy diversity and any civilization there must survive orders in classes differences in material condition and many sorts of inequality the only true forms of equality are equality in the last judgement in equality before a just court of law all other attempts at leveling the playing field will lead to social stagnation number six is imperfection conservatives know that human nature suffers from certain faults since we're imperfect no perfect social order could ever be created because of human restlessness humanity would grow rebellious under any utopian domination it would break out once more in violent discontent where else expire of boredom so aim for utopia is to end in disaster the Conservatives believe that we are not made for perfect things all that we reasonably can expect is tolerably ordered just in free society in which some evils maladjustments and suffering continue to lurk now with that out of the way let's talk about why conservative people exist in the first place according to top psychologists political belief is largely determined by temperament and personality from the Big Five personality perspective which is the most widely accepted model in the field of psychology conservatives tend to be high in conscientiousness the personality dimension that makes people orderly hard-working and vigilant whereas liberals tend to be high in openness the personality dimension that makes people creative intellectually curious and open-minded so as you can see conservatives and liberals are quite literally wired different but both are equally important with the society nonetheless now during my research I've discovered that there are two main valid criticisms of conservatism which most of the polarizations come from the first one has resistance to change people on the right to test radicalism in ideology but the fact is that everything we've come to know and accept about modern Western society and any Society for that fact is the result of ideological thinking and radical implementation America's revolution were not upholding the existing order they took radical action despite the existing order it all modern Americans have them to thank for it they understood that they're up takings were imprudent but saw that it was necessary in the context of the present conditions under the rule of the British there are times that history where the order of things turned stale or outdated or even overly impressive and the conditions still go under the radar of the ones who lead society or even the general public I think about the Jim Crow era of the United States and wonder how things would be like today if there was never a civil rights movement there has always been time periods which are like stains on history where natural law and moral authority seems to be absent and events of undeniable oppression and immorality occurred it's the voice of these people which are never really accounted for in the conservative philosophy sorry brick with a slave or a concentration camp dweller couldn't lift themselves out of struggle by means of upstanding character and determination we need a voice for these particularly dispossessed groups and a voice to address concerns with societies unequivocally in need for some new virtues that's where the political philosophy of liberalism comes in which happens to be the next topic that we will be discussing on this channel so if you want to see that video make sure to show this one some love by sharing it giving it a thumbs up and ready a comment below to provide some feedback or your opinions but that's it for this video I hope you enjoyed it thanks for watching and I'll catch you on the next one

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Views: 53,759

Keywords: conservative, conservatism, philosophy, conservative philosophy, conservatism (political ideology), politics, conservative person, conservatives, political philosophy, conservative environmental policy, libertarianism philosophy, conservative environmentalism, conservative vs liberal, conservative republican, conservative libertarian, conservatives definition, how to be a conservative, donald trump, KKK, fox news, america, republican, liberal, the late show, jason spencer, maga

Id: 1wV9BGzj9fs

Length: 9min 6sec (546 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 19 2018