Pragmatic Conservatism

This book is a study of pragmatic conservatism, an underappreciated tradition in modern American political thought, whose origins can be located in the ideas of Edmund Burke. Beginning with an exegesis of Burke's thought, it goes on to show how three twentieth-century thinkers who are not generally recognized as conservativesWalter Lippmann, Reinhold Niebuhr, and Peter Viereckcarried on the Burkean tradition and adapted it to American democracy. Pragmatic conservatives posit that people, sinful by nature, require guidance from traditions that embody enduring truths wrought by past experience. Yet they also welcome incremental reform driven by established elites, judiciously departing from precedent when necessary. Mindful that truth is never absolute, they eschew ideology and caution against both bold political enterprises and stubborn apologies for the status quo. The book concludes by contrasting this more nuanced brand of conservatism with the radical version that emerged in the wake of the post-war Buckley revolution.

An in-depth examination of Edmund Burke as the father of what the author calls pragmatic conservatism A carefully articulated and well-written study of a kind of conservatism that has been neglected and underappreciated since the mid-twentieth century Includes insightful comparisons of Burkean conservative thought to current more known styles of conservatism

Autorentext
Robert J. Lacey is Associate Professor of Political Science at Iona College, USA. He is also the author of American Pragmatism and Democratic Faith (2008).

Inhalt

1. Introduction .- 2. Edmund Burke: Pragmatic Conservative .- 3. Walter Lippmann: Unlikely Conservative .- 4. Reinhold Niebuhr: Prophetic Conservative .- 5. Peter Viereck: Reverent Conservative .- 6. Conservatism Agonistes: Leaving the Stag Hunt .- 7. Conclusion.