CHAPTER 2
Classifying Viewpoints:
Conservative and Liberal
Liberal and conservative are two terms that are often used to
describe people, or people’s political views. In fact each of us has
hundreds, if not thousands, of attitudes and opinions on all sorts
of issues. Since we shall be studying basic political, moral and
economic ideas, and to a lesser extent the educational and social
implications of those ideas, we should understand the meaning
of the terms conservative and liberal in a larger and more
complete sense.
First, let us understand that no one is a liberal and no one is a
conservative. We are categorizing attitudes, not people. It would
be foolish, indeed dangerous, to categorize people as one or the
other. We all have attitudes and opinions which can be described
as liberal and conservative, but those views can be different
depending on the issue one is dealing with. It is quite frequently
the case that a person can be basically conservative in a moral
sense, and liberal in his educational views. Or one can be socially
liberal and politically conservative. However, certain basic
attitudes people hold, especially concerning the nature of man,
often become the cornerstone of their philosophy. It then seems
to be very reasonable and desirable to develop attitudes which
are consistent. Before we begin the study of philosophical
distinctions we will examine these two broad views of the world.
There are actually five broad visions of the existing institu
tions. Those visions affect our judgments about how those
institutions will function best. A reactionaiy is one who would
have things as they once were. He yearns for an olden time and
a simpler way. He has a vision of the world which idealizes the
past; he remembers the “good old days.” The conservative is
relatively satisfied with the way things are. If change is in the
offing he tends to be skeptical and favors tried and true methods
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