Conservatism Favours Pragmatism Over Principle.’ Discuss (45 Marks)

Conservatism, like many other political ideologies has many factions within it. Traditional conservatism, especially paternalistic conservatism very much favours a pragmatic approach. This is the belief that behaviour should be shaped in accordance with practical circumstances and goals rather than principles, beliefs or ideological objectives. However with the introduction of the liberal new right conservatism due to the conservative view of economic and social breakdown, things have started to look a lot more ideological and challenged the pragmatic nature of conservatism. This is where the debate arises.

Traditional conservatives undoubtedly favour a pragmatic approach rather than stick to the core ideologies of conservatism. Burke famously said ‘a state which doesn’t change cannot conserve’ which perfectly explains the traditional conservative favouritism towards pragmatism. If a government does not change in order to help all aspects of society and bring in some kind of social reforms there will be revolt by the poor of the country. Conservatives hold this belief due to the belief that humans are naturally imperfect and therefore limited intellectually. Society is too complicated for human’s to fully understand and can therefore never fully understand the political system. Traditional conservatives are therefore suspicious of abstract ideas and systems of thought that claim to understand how society and the world should be run as it is out of grasp for an individual to understand. They prefer to ground their ideas in tradition and therefore giving a more pragmatic approach to the world, and avoiding vast changes within society, for example revolt. Principles such as rights of man, equality and social justice are fraught with danger because they provide a blueprint for the reform or remodelling of the world. It is therefore vital for a traditional conservative to allow some form of pragmatism as, like previously, helps to conserve a society.