I recently finished Benjamin Wiker’s 10 Books Every Conservative Must Read. This is a powerful book that I would argue is itself a candidate for the 11th book every conservative must read (albeit poorly titled, as all would profit). Wiker brings great clarity to what defines a conservative, providing insightful, brief synopses of 10 books (plus four honorable mentions, and one “imposter”) that represent conservative thought over the ages, going all the back to the extraordinary philosopher Aristotle (some 2300 years ago). Wiker notes how when it comes to defining conservatism, there is a kind of “negative clarity,” citing that when conservatives try to define conservatism for what it is, they often end up defining it for what it is not (e.g., big government, high taxes, and gay marriage). Thus, this negative definition presents a difficult starting point whereby conservatives can provide a positive account of conservatism that they can live by and also defend. One problem with defining conservatism is determining exactly what one is trying to conserve, and why it is worth conserving. The worst arguments however, note Wiker, are the arguments that something has always been done a particular way, or that change itself is bad. Further, we can’t reduce conservatism to something that is merely done because it is “traditional.”
Any society that has lasted for two or three centuries, notes Wiker, will have long-standing traditions that are passed on from generation to generation, and the continuance of such traditions against societal innovators would be the task of society’s “conservatives.” But if conservatism is limited to simply defending something that has been done for a long time, it is clearly lacking in substance. America, after all, did away with the traditional arrangement of kings and nobles ruling the common folk as was the case in Britain during this country’s founding. So today, we should not take the wisdom of our founding fathers for granted, but we must be prepared to argue for their ideas anew in the current age. The key, according to Wiker, is to not reduce conservatism solely to the principles of the American founding fathers. Certainly, conservatism is something deeper and older, resting on an even more venerable and firm foundation. Conservative principles were not made up on the spot, but reflect deeper and older wisdom of the ages that is not specific to America, but is rooted in the very nature of human persons.
Wiker continues that conservatism is not an American thing, but can, for example, be found in works by an ancient Greek philosopher, a late-Victorian English journalist, a twentieth century German-born political philosopher, and a twentieth century Irish-born Christian apologist. The idea is that conservatism is a “fundamental way of understanding human nature and its place in the cosmos.” As well, we find from Wiker that liberalism is not a recent phenomenon either. Liberalism is also at its core a fundamental way of understanding human nature, and is a rebellion against the conservative view of man. What is interesting to note is that were these authors who Wiker describes as genuinely conservative alive today, they would demand to be called “liberal.” This confusion of the term came about because during the period when the American founding fathers were engaging in a revolution against Britain and her King, they were fighting against conservatives in Europe who wanted to keep or restore their historical regime where hereditary kings and queens ruled nations as an aristocratic class. The Americans were perceived as radicals, believing they were reinstituting the most natural and moral form of government, which is self-government. This position came to be known as “liberalism” since the desire was to achieve liberation from top-down government control.
Thus, American conservatism is at times seen as having its genesis in “classical liberalism” that focused on laissez-faire economics, personal liberty, and a republican form of government. Still, Wiker is not satisfied with this term, but advances a far deeper and older “classical conservatism” that is the foundation of true conservatism. The fourteen books Wiker has chosen help us to find out what is the sure fixing point in the conservative mind. In this missive, I will focus on the first book, Aristotle’s Politics. Wiker calls Aristotle “the father of political conservatism,” which he believes should give conservatives a feeling of great relief. Conservatism is not a modern invention, but has a pedigree hearkening back to ancient Greece. Aristotle, according to Wiker, was the father of political conservatism. Aristotle argued that political life and morality are natural, as opposed to those who felt that political life and morality are entirely man-made. This is a crucial argument that is still with us. Conservatives do not believe that man is infinitely malleable, but believe morality is objective and puts limits on what human beings can and should do. Liberals, however, believe morality is relative, and that man is so malleable that he can be politically manipulated to advance a notion of the “common good” that expedites a progressive agenda.
Conservatives, according to Wiker, in a manner similar to Aristotle, prefer experience over theory, which is why they cringe at utopian philosophical schemes that liberals tend to embrace since they justify their efforts at social engineering. Conservatives, like Aristotle, accept the world as it is , and distrust abstract reason that is divorced from experience. Liberals, unfortunately, seem to have no problem reshaping a nation’s political life around some attractive but untried scheme under the banner of slogans such as “hope and change” (Obama, Pelosi, and Reid naturally come to mind in this regard, but I digress). Now this does not mean that conservatives are not intellectuals, but they simply demand that our reason be firmly tethered to our experience of reality as it is. For conservatives such as Aristotle, the practice of seeking wisdom involves the study of things as they are, and not as we would like them to be, which includes the study of human beings and political life. Experience, along with passion, allows for productive change, while lack of experience with that same passion leads to destructive schemes for overhauling society. So as a conservative, relax, you’re in good company.
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