Edward Feser: The Metaphysics of Conservatism

[Fonte]

"...Realist Conservatism [is] committed to the existence of timeless and unchanging essences from which derives a natural law that applies to all human beings in all circumstances.

Reductionist Conservatism... might be defined as a variety of conservatism ...affirming that there is such a thing as human nature and that it is more or less fixed, but which would ground this affirmation... in...contingent facts about human biology, or ...the laws of economics or in a theory of cultural evolution. The Reductionist Conservative is...more likely to look to empirical science for inspiration ... He is also bound to see grey in at least some areas where the Realist Conservative sees black and white...

...the Anti-Realist Conservative, ...might be characterized as someone doubtful that any relatively fixed moral or political principles can be read off even from scientific or economic facts about the human condition.

Whereas Realist and Reductionist Conservatives value tradition because there is at least a presumption that it reflects human nature, the Anti-Realist Conservative values it merely because it provides for stability and order. ...Since those principles can change, though, the conservative ought, in the view of the Anti-Realist, to be willing to change with them.

Realist Conservatives respect religion ...especially because its teachings are either explicit or implicit affirmations of the very same metaphysical truths knowable through philosophical inquiry. ... Reductionist and Anti-Realist Conservatives also respect religion, ...because it serves as a bulwark of social and moral order ...For the Anti-Realist, it is ultimately the values that have (for whatever reason) come to prevail in a culture, rather than any objective philosophical or scientific truths, that determine what we should do. Pragmatism is his only unchanging principle."