Political Philosophy: Tradition, Virtue, and the State
Oakeshott: Trimming and the Values of Progression
Michael Oakeshott identifies five values of progression regarding the concept of ‘trimming’:
- Skepticism of innovation: A cautious approach to new changes.
- Endogeneity: Innovation is best if it emerges from within the system.
- Specificity: Changes should be targeted toward distinct goals.
- Slow and careful: Progression must be deliberate.
- Timing: Innovation must be executed at the proper time.
Trimming involves seeking balance over extremes. It requires being prudent, realistic, and aware of human fallibility. It aims to preserve institutions by supporting lawful authority and accepting limits on power. Because human nature is often fearful, prideful, and driven by factions, politics must be cautious not to yield to these flaws. Institutions are not meant to be perfect; rather, they exist to limit damage, restrain ambition, handle conflict, and prevent collapse.
Innovation involves designed changes that draw certain losses and possible gains. Change is the result of a dynamic universe; we must accommodate it and figure out the inevitable. A Creed is a shared declaration of beliefs, while a Doctrine is a list of practices and principles one tries to uphold.
Halifax: Stability and the Trimmer
Halifax emphasizes stability through a balanced, cautious, and realistic approach. The Trimmer is a reactive figure—a ‘third opinion’ used to balance opposing forces, preserving order rather than parties. This philosophy values:
- Virtuous people ruled by a good king.
- Good character in rulers.
- Religion as a stabilizing force.
Law is paramount: Laws provide order derived from nature. Virtuous laws come from a root of goodness still present in nature. Halifax also supported a Constitutional Monarchy. He observed the emergence of two parties: the Tories (opposed to exclusion) and the Whigs (in favor of exclusion). Halifax warned that parties lead to polarization. He argued that if you stand for nothing, you have no morals, yet he questioned who truly loves ‘swing voters.’ The principles underlying conservative trimming include stability, compromise, civility, restraint, and peace.
Coleridge: Ideas, Conceptions, and Moral Unity
Coleridge distinguishes between an Idea and a Conception:
- Idea: An understanding of the true nature of a thing, giving shape and structure to how we evaluate the world.
- Conception: The manifestation of an idea. For example, laws are a conception of the Idea of Justice.
The Constitution is a manifestation of the true nature of a state—a conception of the Idea of a State. Different forms of government still aspire to the idea of a unified moral whole.
Moral Unity: Coleridge argues that Liberalism fails to attend to the idea of a state because it does not consider the moral unity of an organic whole. A State consists of Civilization and Cultivation.
- Civilization (Material): Focuses on material well-being (food, shelter, healthcare). This includes Propriety (private property, distribution of wealth, and the secular arm of government).
- Cultivation (Moral): Focuses on moral well-being, often ignored by liberals (e.g., the moral unity of a singular religion). This includes Nationality (common moral property and a church that governs morality).
Coleridge views the Social Contract as pure fiction and a senseless theory. He notes a problem with the constitution: its rigid structure tries to be permanent and perfect, yet it must be painstakingly re-evaluated. The state balances Permanence (Landed Nobility, 1st Estate) and Progress (Merchant Class, 2nd Estate). The 3rd Estate consists of the Clerisy (teachers, philosophers, artists, and scholars) who lack wealth but provide cultivation.
MacIntyre: Practices and Tradition
MacIntyre opposes Emotivism—the belief that all morality is merely what we want it to be. He argues for a reclamation of ancient concepts of virtue to find unity. Regarding the Is/Ought problem, he disagrees with the notion that one cannot derive an ‘ought’ from an ‘is.’ He believes we find what ought to be by looking at what is (e.g., a ‘good’ thing is one that performs its function well).
Three Stages of the Development of Virtue
- Practice: The metaphysical location of virtue, defined through complex, collective human activity (e.g., a liberal arts education). Practices produce External Goods (results not specific to the practice, like food from cooking) and Internal Goods (achievable only through virtuous execution, like refined taste).
- Narrative of a Single Human Life: Finding unity within a life, between generations, and in a contemporary community.
- Moral Tradition: The historical continuity of virtue.
Ishiguro: Virtuous Agency and Entangled Tragedies
In The Remains of the Day, Ishiguro presents three entangled tragedies:
- Social: Dedicating life to a dying practice (the old aristocratic order of butlering).
- Political: Serving a community that was morally wicked (Lord Darlington as a Nazi sympathizer).
- Personal: Excellence in virtue (dignity and loyalty) preventing a personal life or connection with others.
The protagonist, Stevens, seeks Eudaemonia (happiness as flourishing) but suffers from self-deception. His reading of romance novels reflects hidden, oppressed emotions—correlative virtues. Only by embracing ‘foolishness’ can one escape the rigid constraints of dignity and loyalty.
Weil: Needs of the Soul and Rootedness
Simone Weil argues that orienting politics around obligations fulfills the needs of the soul. Communities deserve respect because they are unique, project us into the future, and connect us to the past. Communities fail when they ‘devour souls,’ supply insufficient ‘food,’ or become ‘dead.’
Uprootedness is caused by military conquest, money, and modern education. Rootedness requires humbling oneself, engaging in virtuous practice, and fulfilling obligations to everyone. She identifies four obstacles: a false conception of greatness, the degradation of justice, the idolization of money, and a lack of religious inspiration.
Burke: Anti-Revolutionary Thought
Edmund Burke offers five primary arguments against radical revolution:
- Problems of the Revolution: It casts off the existing state for a nonexistent ideal. It is presumptuous (assuming one knows better than ancient wisdom), selfish (believing one’s values are universal), and doomed to fail (destroying stability leads to chaos).
- Proper Understanding of the Glorious Revolution.
- The True Nature of Liberty, Rights, and the Law.
- Rehabilitation of Maligned Ideas: Tradition, religion, ‘pleasing illusions,’ and prejudice.
- Reinterpretation of the Social Contract: Society is a contract between the living, the dead, and those yet to be born.
Burke argues there is no qualification for rule but virtue and wisdom. He critiques the French Revolution as ‘anti-demolition’ and ‘pro-evolution.’ Oakeshott later echoed this skepticism, noting that democracy is ‘government by the people,’ but the people can be easily misled.
Soyinka: Cosmic vs. Temporal Order
Wole Soyinka rejects the ‘clash of cultures’ interpretation of Death and the King’s Horseman. Instead, the conflict is between Cosmic Order (Yoruba ritual, spiritual balance, and metaphysical responsibility) and Temporal Order (British colonialism, rationalism, and material causality). Rituals maintain harmony between Orun (the spiritual realm) and Aye (the living realm). The play reflects conservative themes: tradition and ritual preserve social stability and connect individuals to a moral order that transcends historical time.
Confucius: Ritual, Virtue, and Social Order
Confucianism posits that society should reflect a cosmic order. Key concepts include:
- Zhi: Unified order.
- De: Virtue or moral character.
- Li: Ritual practices that cultivate ethical behavior.
Rulers must govern by moral example (the Mandate of Heaven). Ethics and politics are fused; moral self-cultivation is the foundation of political order. Confucius identifies five virtues: benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trustworthiness. He warns that virtues become vices when taken to extremes (e.g., courage becomes unruliness) unless balanced by a love of learning.
Three Types of People
- Sage: To be served.
- Gentleman: To be emulated.
- Petty Man: To be avoided.
Mencius: The Goodness of Human Nature
Mencius argues that human nature is naturally good, containing ‘sprouts’ of virtue:
- The heart of compassion becomes benevolence.
- The heart of disdain/shame becomes righteousness.
- The heart of deference becomes propriety.
- The heart of approval/disapproval becomes wisdom.
He uses the analogy of water flowing downward to show that human nature has a natural moral orientation. He critiques ‘village worthies’—conformists who appear virtuous but value social approval over genuine goodness.
Chōmin: Novelty, Nostalgia, and Ideology
Nakae Chōmin categorizes political actors into Lovers of Novelty (pro-progress/Westernization) and Lovers of Nostalgia (pro-tradition). Both are ‘lovers of change’—one seeks a new future, the other a return to the past. In his work, characters represent different paths:
- Mr. Gentleman: Western progress, democracy, and pacifism.
- Champion of the East: Imperialism, realism, and strength.
- Master Nankai: The mediator and skeptic.
Chōmin warns that politics organized around pure, rigid principles can become destructive. He uses parody to expose the weaknesses of 19th-century ideologies during the Meiji Restoration.