What is Conservatism?

This video lecture discusses the meaning of conservatism.

***

Feel free to share your thoughts in the “comments” section below, or hit the "Like" button if you find this material helpful!

Thanks! PHILO-notes

[Pan_Z]

A decent explanation for a 3-minute video. Though, it's important to note why Conservatives value tradition and the current social order. They have a view of man as a fallen creature, neither beast nor angel. To Conservatives, standing institutions that keep men civil shouldn't be taken for granted. Radical change may supplant one evil with an even greater one.

[quakers]

It is as though if society was a car liberals would be the gas and conservatives the brakes. A car needs both.😊

[HopelesslyCritical]

A fine video. I'll add my few eurocents.

Political ideologies are subjects of never-ending debates and argues. Some ideologies changed over the years more than others. Ex:Liberalism. We have tons of them these days and the same amount of opinions. Author mentioned that Conservative traditions can vary from country to country, which is true. There are things that I want to note.

- In Europe and some other countries, Christianity played big role in formation of these traditions. This includes marriage ONLY between man and woman, no oversexualization of woman/man (including casual sex) etc. There are no conservative gays and simply hating modern "woke" won't make you automatically conservative.

- Conservatism is not a synonym of Capitalism.

- It's not as much about personal freedoms, as in Liberalism, in a sense that you can do anything. That would make Conservatism useless. Many traditions are more about culture or nation as whole. You are an individual, yes, but you have to follow certain set of shared values. Culture, traditions, values etc have to be regulated by the government, so interference is necessary.

- Conservatism is not a synonym of Nationalism!. This one is very important, because people too often mix two things together. Many Nationalists do share some Conservative views, but not all Conservatives share views with nationalists. Xenophobia and racism are not Conservative values either.

- Conservatives are loyal to conservative values, not laws or government. It's not about anarchy or trust, but the fact that laws can allow a lot of weird and "evil" things. Things that are against traditional values. Personal rights also play big role here. Government should not control every step of your life.

I hope i haven't forgot anything.

[farmtutor]

You know conservatives aren’t just in love with tradition. They care about reason over idealism. That reason is often constrained by nature, experience and proven human tradition.

To say conservatives are all about tradition would be to imply that they have no set of values besides the current trends but they do value dependability when making choices. They value freedom above all and free commerce and they fight restriction. Like Adam Smith noted, many politicians seem to wish to organize a new idealistic way while ignoring that those they govern have a way of their own.

Conservatives see individual agency as valuable, more so than privilege or equality of outcome.

To conservatives outcomes are a result of choices as long as a person is given sufficient opportunity and uses those opportunities wisely. Other parties might seek to provide compensation or increase privileges when they sympathize with a cause or people.

[Petstar]

It is a great video, but calling it incredibly easy is rather misleading. I have never seen this complex language in such a concise video. Not everyone has a large and complex vocabulary and some people might have a hard time understanding, especially those who have english as their second language. Other than that, keep up the good work.

[ngenglee]

I was searching for linguistic conservatism. Guess that isn't a thing on Youtube.

[practicaliching]

Laissez-faire government and Laissez-faire economics are counterintuitive ideas. Laffer Curve, peace through strength, and building a strong state on strong individuals given individual liberty and expecting individual responsibility, are counterintuitive ideas. Conservative ideas are counterintuitive.
Liberalism is not an ideology. Liberalism is an inability to use reason and logic to understand how the counterintuitive nature of the universe works, so a person falls back on their emotions to reach a conclusion.
That is why there are no successful liberal political talk radio shows. Liberals need moving pictures or hand puppets to trigger their emotions.
There was a huge global study where they asked thousands of people hundreds of questions and grouped them by their answers. People that ranked high in conscientiousness also favored conservative policies. People that ranked low in conscientiousness also favored liberal policies.
Meaning liberals have no intention of doing what is right or making sacrifices for the good of society.
Liberals are twice as likely as conservatives to report having mental problems in some groups and report higher mental problems across the board. This mental instability and inability to still their mind long enough to understand how conservative policies help poor and working class people is the cause of their problem.
If you look up the traits of narcissists, you will see they are exactly the same as liberal politicians and activists, because they are both driven in total by their hatred and emotions.

[deverenschultz]

You know I actually learned recently in a college class, that conservatism can somewhat also be defined as a kind of "political pragmatism."
A sort of rejection of overthinking theories about how government should run, and looking to the past for how a government has already ran. Thus, it looks like it is preserving traditional social institutions and practices. So instead of sitting down and thinking as a philosopher, what the best way to run a government would be, conservative council would sit down and look at what had already worked and continue doing it.
One problem that crops up though is how far to look back at past examples? One case would be revolutionary America. King George III wanted to return to a kind of absolution government from 1688, while some of the founding Fathers wanted to continue the parliamentary government of England in the last 100 years. Who is the real conservative? Someone trying to revive something that worked? Or someone trying to continue something that works?

Great video,
I just wanted to touch on definitions.

[DarklessX]

What is Conservatism you may ask? Simple.

- Common Sense
- Responsibility
- Preserving the country's traditions, heritage, family core values, & individual liberty
- Zero government interference
- Loyalty to the Constitution