{"id":5585,"date":"2017-04-25T12:30:29","date_gmt":"2017-04-25T12:30:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2017\/04\/25\/is-conservatism-a-belief-system\/"},"modified":"2017-04-25T12:30:29","modified_gmt":"2017-04-25T12:30:29","slug":"is-conservatism-a-belief-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2017\/04\/25\/is-conservatism-a-belief-system\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Conservatism a Belief System?"},"content":{"rendered":"

I should think so.  But in an otherwise excellent entry<\/a>, Tony M. writes,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Conservatism is not really an ideology because it is neither a belief system per se nor a comprehensive social system. It is not a belief<\/em> system because it does not take its foundational standards from belief<\/em> but by reference to more basic truths that can be demonstrated or are self-evident<\/em>. In contrast, progressivism for example is rooted in beliefs that could not be established firmly even in principle.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

It follows from what Mr M. is saying that if a proposition p is demonstrable or self-evident, then there is no subject S such that S believes that p. In plain English: no one believes demonstrable or self-evident truths. But 'surely' (i) it is self-evident that nothing is both F and not F at the same time and in the same respect and in the same sense  of 'F'; and (ii) I along with Mr. M. believe that!  So some of us believe the self-evident.<\/span><\/p>\n

Could M. have blundered so badly?   But let's be charitable. Is there a way to read what M. writes in such a way that it has a chance of being true?<\/span><\/p>\n

Most philosophers maintain that knowledge entails belief<\/em>:  Necessarily, if I know that p, then I believe that p.  (At issue is propositional knowledge, not know-how, or carnal knowledge, or knowledge by acquaintance.)  To put it another way, believing that p is a necessary but not sufficient condition of knowing that p.  We could call this the orthodox line and trace it all the way back to the Theaetetus<\/em> of Plato.  But it doesn't seem quite obvious. <\/span><\/p>\n

One heterodox position is that knowledge logically excludes belief<\/em>: Necessarily, if I know that p, then it is not the case that I believe that p.  Ordinary language lends some support to this.  "I don't believe that the sun is shining; I know that it is!"  Suppose I am asked by a phone pollster whether I am male or female.  It would be very strange were I to reply, "I believe I'm male."  Accordingly, what one believes one doesn't know, and what  one knows one doesn't believe. I'm told John Cook Wilson held this view. Dallas Willard reports that Roy Wood Sellars held it, and Willard himself held it.<\/span><\/p>\n

I have puzzled over<\/a> this heterodox view without coming to a clear decision.  But if knowledge excludes belief, and if the basic truths of conservatism are either demonstrable or self-evident, then it makes sense for M. to claim that conservatism is not a belief system.<\/span><\/p>\n

In philosophy it is very important that we be as civil and charitable as possible. There is no place for polemics in philosophy.  In politics it is quite otherwise.  Please do not confuse political philosophy with politics. <\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nRelated articles<\/legend>\n
\n
<\/a>Dolezal, Knowledge, and Belief<\/a><\/div>\n
<\/a>Nietzsche, Truth, and Power<\/a><\/div>\n
<\/a>Divine Simplicity and God's Contingent Knowledge: An Aporetic Tetrad<\/a><\/div>\n
<\/a>Does the Atheist Deny What the Theist Affirms?<\/a><\/div>\n
<\/a>God, Proof, and Desire<\/a><\/div>\n
<\/a>There is Nothing Liberal About Contemporary Liberals<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/fieldset>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I should think so.  But in an otherwise excellent entry, Tony M. writes, Conservatism is not really an ideology because it is neither a belief system per se nor a comprehensive social system. It is not a belief system because it does not take its foundational standards from belief but by reference to more basic … Continue reading “Is Conservatism a Belief System?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[372,64],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5585","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-belief","category-conservatism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5585","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5585"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5585\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}