Conservative Tradition

1) Burke was opposed to the French Revolution because of its soul which was individualistic and militantly rationalist. He believed that its influence was corrosive to contemporary culture of Europe during the 18th century. During that time Europe, particularly Germany and Eastern Europe, was going through a period of traditionalism where it was fascinated with the culture of the Middle Ages. At the center of this fascination was the Catholic Church which still had considerable numbers of philosophers and theologians committed to orthodox teaching, rather than the naturalist movement of the time. As more philosophers declared the enlightenment of their doctrines, the more philosophers and professors in religiously oriented universities appealed to the traditions of Medieval Europe. In addition to Church influences, historic towns and guilds throughout Western Europe increasingly turned to family, native traditions, saints, scholars, heroes and crafts. Instead of going off to the capital cities of Europe, which were the beacons of the Enlightenment, poets, composers, performers, artists, artisans, analysts and chroniclers stayed and prospered within their own communities. All of these contributed to a traditionalist revival within Europe that established an elite culture that was being destroyed by the French Revolution. As the Revolution gained momentum, guilds in France were banned and the patriarchal family was condemned as against nature and contrary to reason. Marriage was declared a civil contract and grounds for divorce were formalized.


2) Jeremy Bentham would have to be neither. Since he was an advocate of utilitarianism he would have to be a relativist because utilitarianism can be accepted or rejected by libertarians and liberals alike. He was also an advocate for animal rights yet he was opposed to natural rights. He favored libertarian policies such as individual and economic freedom yet he also favored leftist-liberal policies like the decriminalization of sodomy.

3) The problem with simple solutions for conservatives is because the problems have been made complex due to liberal policies such that other issues besides money have become reasons why a school is good or bad: teacher quality, content of the curriculum, etc. As to prejudices in economic and political decision-making, they influence whether the decision-maker sees an issue as a problem in the first place. Some maybe leaning towards liberal prejudices and they see equal availability of education as more important the quality of the education and would be opposed to any measure that improves schools at the expense of equal availability. Yet others may lean towards libertarian prejudices and see equal availability of education as irrelevant because school vouchers would allow equal availability while improving the quality of schools through higher funding. Higher funding would allow higher pay for better teachers and better teaching materials, technology, etc.