What are conservatives conserving, and what are progressives progressing?

What 1 philosophy do most conservatives adhere to? Also, what 1 philosophy do most progressives adhere to?

Pozessed said:

What 1 philosophy do most conservatives adhere to? Also, what 1 philosophy do most progressives adhere to?

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Depends if you mean conservatives or Conservatives. Of course, in common parlance they are invariably mixed up, even by politicians who identify as (C)onservative.
Conservatives with a lower case c aren't political conservatives. They are just people who have conservative traits.
"Disposed to preserve existing conditions, institutions, etc., or to restore traditional ones, and to limit change. Cautiously moderate or purposefully low: conservative estimate. Traditional in style or manner; avoiding novelty or showiness: conservative clothing."

As for political Conservatism, it is a logical framework for preserving or expanding the rights of the citizenry as necessary for the functioning and stability of a healthy society.
Conservatism is generally thought of as a child of many fathers, and while Edmund Burke is most often mentioned, some of the guiding principles go back to before Hammurabi.

Principles that are often considered core parts include:
- Anti-utopianism. Because one size does not fit all, and besides political extremism tends to lead to bloodbaths.
- Education. Because an educated populace is harder to manipulate.
- Ethics. Because people who believe in what they are doing makes for a better society.
- Repect for local custom. Because they may have stabilizing effects that aren't immediately recognizable. (They are by no means untouchable, but one should tread carefully.)
- Scepticism. Because once you are secure from enemies from without, checks and balances are necessary to guard against enemies from within.


As for progressivism, I haven't got a clue. I get the impression that it's kind of a buzzword, but I suppose I should educate myself...

Pozessed said:

What 1 philosophy do most conservatives adhere to? Also, what 1 philosophy do most progressives adhere to?

Click to expand...

Good question. I have thought about this myself. Let me offer an answer which may seem cryptic and a little overly abstract and philosophical. But then I will try to offer an explanation: Conservatives believe in ultimate truths and final ends. Liberals believe in method over final ends.

OK, so what does this mean? To answer this, think about science. In science, many people think that the enterprise is involved in finding final answers about facts and truth. This is certainly true. But the emphasis is on method. No matter how well established a certain Scientific principle, if the proper observations, logic, and methods are pursued to question those conclusions, science will go in that direction. There are no final, fixed dogmas or unquestionable, sacred foundations. All is open to question, provided that the proper methods are used to do so.

Conservatives, on the other hand, believe that certain things are final and sacrosanct. This usually involves appeals to notions of habits, culture, traditions, "commonsense" (which is nothing more than just the kind of worldview that one has happened to grow up with). These are often seen as the best, with appeals to "The wisdom of the ages" to shut down further questioning of what they see as common sense foundations.

A good example of this, in my mind, was the idea that the earth is the center of the universe vs that it goes around the sun. When Galileo suggested that the earth is not the center of the universe this in the 1600s based on observations he had made , it went against religious dogma that had been taught by the church for 16 centuries. There were lots of scripture that they used to support this. And besides, where else would God put the culmination of his creation, man, right? It was the commonsense belief of the whole world up to that point, of course, projected as usual to notions of commonsense and eternal truth. When Copernicus and Galileo made observations which seemed to contradict that idea, it rattled the church. They almost burned them alive at the stake for daring to make such a counterintuitive claim. The church only accepted the idea that the Earth goes around the sun, not vice versa, in the 1820s- about 200 years later! They only forgave Galileo for this "heresy" only in the 1990s!

Liberalism, and of the European enlightenment in general, was based on this idea that we do not know ultimate truth, and can probably never know them. But that's not what's important. We can make progress by admitting our ignorance of such ultimate truth. But rather than leading to nihilism, as conservatives sometimes fear, this led to endless and restless questioning and search after better ways of seeing and doing things. It led to debates and thinking. This kind of approach has been found to be very fruitful not just in the sciences, but in the area of social policy as well. Why should we continue with slavery? Why should women not be allowed to vote? But do we think that those things the ultimate moral truth now? No. We can never make that claim, just like we can never make ultimate claims on any scientific conclusions. We liberals are always open to better ideas, and better logic. But until you can provide us with those, we can be quite dogmatic about what we feel is progress.

Hope this helps.