Conservatism Syllabus
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Dan NadConservatism Syllabus
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Dan NadPolitical Science 4500-001
Advanced Topics: Conservatism
Dr. Brandon Turner
Spring 2019
Office: Brackett 230D Class Time: TR 330-445
Office Hours: T 100-330 Location: Brackett 113
or by appointment E-mail: [email protected]
Course Description:
For at least the past century, something called “conservatism” has been a major force in Western (and,
increasingly, non-Western) political discourse. Today, we are to believe that it refers to one of only two
major political ideologies in American politics, and we learn early in our studies that it refers to the
“ideology” that corresponds with those who support the Republican Party. It is, in other words, a term
of considerable political and even theoretical cache.
But what is conservatism? Is it an attitude, or a disposition? Is it a philosophy, or an ideology (and what
does it mean to say that something is an “ideology”)? Is it merely the label given to the evolving
justifications for the maintenance of traditional sources of social and political power?
In this class, we’ll discuss these questions and more through a sustained engagement with major texts in
the history of conservatism and its rival ideologies—in particular, liberalism and various forms of
radicalism.
Required Texts:
David Hume, Political Writings, ed. Stuart Warner and Donald Livingston (Indianapolis, IN: Hackett,
1994) ISBN: 0872201600
Friedrich Hayek, The Constitution of Liberty, ed. Ronald Hamowy (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago
Press, 2011) ISBN: 9780226315393
Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France and Other Writings, ed. Jesse Norman
(Everyman’s Library, 2015) ISBN: 9780375712531
Michael Oakeshott, Rationalism in Politics and Other Essays (Indianapolis, IN: Liberty Fund Press,
1991) ISBN: 0865970955
I strongly encourage you to get these texts (follow the ISBN numbers if there is any confusion), all of
which can be had pretty cheap if you look around online. In lecture and discussion we will refer to the
text often, and it is more than slightly confusing for those with different editions to figure out alternate
page numbers and translations. In addition to the texts listed above, there will be many readings posted
electronically on Canvas. The readings on Canvas are just as important (i.e. likely to be on the test) as
those from the texts themselves.
Learning Outcomes:
• Students will survey the intellectual history of conservatism.
• Students will write a term paper.
• Students will demonstrate considerable reading skills, along with the ability to reproduce ideas in
an essay and long-form paper format.
Course Requirements
1. Attendance/participation (10%)—Gotta be here every day. Students get one missed class—
whether excused or inexcused—after which each additional absence constitutes a one-point (one
total grade percentage point) deduction.
2. Midterm Exam (25%)— We’ll discuss format and content as we approach the date.
3. Final Exam (35%)— We’ll discuss format and content as we approach the final date.
4. Term Paper (30%)—Students will compose a ten-page term paper on a topic of their choosing. A
style guide will be distributed in February.
Course Policies:
1. Computers in the Classroom: Don’t, if you can possibly avoid it.
2. Deadlines: Papers are considered late when the class period during which they are due has ended and
will be penalized one letter grade for each day past due. All exams must be taken at their scheduled times.
As a rule, there are no exceptions.
3. Honor Code: This course demands adherence to a certain code of honor. As such, I will construe all
cheating in this class as a personal insult. Because dueling is no longer socially acceptable, all cheating,
plagiarizing, or behavior otherwise deemed reprehensible will be dealt with as swiftly and sharply as
possible through institutional means. Plagiarism and cheating will not be tolerated. I remind you of the
following, the Clemson Undergraduate Catalog’s statement regarding academic dishonesty, defined as:
“1. Giving, receiving, or using unauthorized aid, including the inappropriate use of electronic devices, on
any work submitted to fulfill academic requirements. In examination situations, all electronic devices
must be off and stowed unless otherwise authorized by the instructor; 2. Plagiarism, which includes the
intentional or unintentional copying of language, structure, or ideas of another and attributing the work to
one’s own efforts; 3. Attempts to copy, edit, or delete computer files that belong to another person or use
of computer accounts that belong to another person without the permission of the file owner or account
owner…”
4. Grading Scale: <60=F; 60-69=D; 70-79=C; 80-89=B; 90-100=A
Schedule:
I: Liberalism, Liberation, Revolution
Thursday, January 10th: Introduction
Nature and Natural Right
Tuesday, January 15th: John Locke, Second Treatise, selections; Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discourse on
the Origin of Inequality, part one [CANVAS]
Equality and Inequality
Thursday, January 17th: Rousseau, Discourse on the Origin of Inequality, part two; Social Contract,
selected; Robespierre, “On the Principles of Political Morality,” various Declarations
[CANVAS]
Reason and Progress
Tuesday, January 22nd: Kant, “Perpetual Peace,” Condorcet, “Outlines of an Historical View”
[CANVAS]
Alienation and Liberation
Thursday, January 24th: Marx, “Estranged Labor” and Communist Manifesto [CANVAS]
II: Reaction
Tuesday, January 29th: Joseph de Maistre, Considerations on France, selections [CANVAS]
Thursday, January 31st: de Maistre, Essay on the Generative Principle of Constitutions, selections
[CANVAS]
Tuesday, February 5th: Thomas Carlyle, Latter-Day Pamphlets, selections [CANVAS]
Thursday, February 7th: The Twelve Southerners, I’ll Take My Stand, selections [CANVAS]
III. Conservatism
The Limits of Reason
Tuesday, February 12th: David Hume, Treatise of Human Nature, Book II, Part III, selections; Friedrich
Hayek, “The Use of Knowledge in Society” [CANVAS]
The Limits of Consent
Thursday, February 14th: Hume, “Of the Original Contract”; “Of the Origin of Government”; “Of
Passive Obedience”; “Of Superstition and Enthusiasm”; “Of Moral Prejudices”
The Origins of Order
Tuesday, February 19th: Hume, Treatise, Book III, Part II, selections; pp. 1-73
Tuesday, February 21st: NO CLASS
Tuesday, February 26th: Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, selections [CANVAS]; Hume, “Of
Refinement in the Arts”; Hayek, Constitution of Liberty, Chapter Four “Freedom, Reason, and
Tradition”
Edmund Burke
Thursday, February 28th: Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France, pp 425-515
Tuesday, March 5th: Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France, 425-515
Thursday, March 7th: Burke, Reflections, 547-600
Tuesday, March 12th: Burke, Reflections, 600-625; “Letter from the New to the Old Whigs”
Thursday, March 14th: MIDTERM EXAM
********SPRING BREAK**********
Law, Constitution, Government
Tuesday, March 26th: Montesquieu, The Spirit of the Laws, Book XI, selections; James Madison,
Federalist 47 [CANVAS]; Hayek, Constitution of Liberty, Part II, Chapters 10-11
Thursday, March 28th: Hayek, Constitution of Liberty, Part II, Chapters 12-15
Community
Tuesday, April 2nd: Tocqueville, Democracy in America, selections; Hegel, Philosophy of Right,
selections [CANVAS]
Thursday, April 4th: NO CLASS
Culture
Tuesday, April 9th: Matthew Arnold, Culture and Anarchy, Chapter I, “Sweetness and Light”
[CANVAS]
Thursday, April 11th: TS Eliot, Notes Towards a Definition of Culture, selections [CANVAS]
Conservatism and Race
Tuesday, April 16th: Guest speaker; reading TBD
Michael Oakeshott
Thursday, April 18th: Oakeshott, “Rationalism in Politics”
Tuesday, April 23rd: Oakeshott, “On Being Conservative”
Thursday, April 25th: Oakeshott, “Political Education,” “Political Discourse”
