Why Has Conservativism Been Described as a Philosophy of Human Imperfection?

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Why has Conservatism been described as a philosophy of imperfection? (15 marks) Conservatism can be seen to be a ‘philosophy if imperfection’ according to O’Sullivan.This idea is manifested in their pessimistic view of human nature advocating Tradition, Pragmatism and Paternalism. As Burke states society should be ‘a partnership between those who are living, those who are dead and those who are born’ which clearly shows support of the status quo otherwise change and uncertainty can lead to disruption. The first strand of imperfection according to Conservativism is psychological as psychologically humans are limited and fear isolation and instability so they very much seek the safe and familiar ‘knowing their place.’ If they do not have stability then it could lead to ‘anomie’ as proposed my French sociologist Durkheim where people feel a sense of normlessness and isolation everything being meaningless. So liberty is constrained to maintain social order as opposed to freedom being epitomized in people as utility maximizers according to liberals. Therefore social order in put in place to provide certainty in an uncertain world. The second strand of imperfection according to Conservativism is moral as immoral or criminal behavior is deep-rooted in the individual. There is a ‘power after power’ conception according to Hobbes with human beings drive consisting of physical prosperity, power and avoidance of deprivation and doing anything they can to maintain or maximize these basic appetites so people cannot be trusted and crime is based on the consequence of human instincts. So it leads to the idea of people behaving in a civilized way if they are deterred by a firm government putting a tough criminal justice system so there is an invisible amalgamation of law and order with the role of law preserving order and morality. The third strand of imperfection according
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