The origins of liberal conservatism: Edmund Burke, Adam Smith, and the art of coping with a ...

192 Pages·2013·4.65 MB·English

The origins of liberal conservatism:
Edmund Burke, Adam Smith, and the art of coping with a complex society

by

Laurence Joseph Caromba

A dissertation submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree

MA in Political Science

in the Department of Political Sciences at the

UNIVERSITY OF PRETORIA

FACULTY OF HUMANITIES

SUPERVISOR: Dr Gerhard Wolmarans

November, 2012
©© UUnniivveerrssiittyy ooff PPrreettoorriiaa
DECLARATION OF ORIGINALITY

Full name of student: Laurence Joseph Caromba
Student number: 24282163

Declaration:

1. I understand what plagiarism is and I am aware of the University’s policy in this regard.

2. I declare that this dissertation is my own original work. Where other people’s work has
been used (either from a printed source, Internet or other source), this has been properly
acknowledged and referenced in accordance with departmental requirements.

3. I have not used work previously produced by another student or any other person to hand
in as my own.

4. I have not allowed, and will not allow, anyone to copy my work, with the intention of
passing it off as his or her own work.

Signature of student:

Date: 26 November, 2012

Signature of supervisor:

Date: 26 November, 2001

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ABSTRACT

This study compares and contrasts the writings of Edmund Burke and Adam Smith, to
determine whether they are contradictory, compatible, or complementary. Burke can be
regarded as the founder of modern conservatism, and Smith is an early and powerful
advocate of market-orientated liberalism. Today, their ideas have been blended into a system
of “liberal conservatism” that serves as the unofficial political ideology of most right-of-
centre parties throughout the English-speaking world. However, it is not so immediately
apparent that Smith and Burke can be reconciled with each other.

In the course of this study, Burke and Smith’s ideas are considered at various levels of
abstraction. They share a nuanced view of human beings as complex, social, sympathetic and
self-interested. They both adhere to an empiricist epistemology that is distrustful of deductive
rationality, especially when applied to complex human societies. In order to cope with this
complexity, Burke and Smith alike counsel humility and pragmatism, and emphasise the
importance of contingency. Furthermore, they suggest that policymakers rely on mechanisms
that reveal information held by large numbers of individuals: tradition in the case of Burke,
and the market mechanism in the case of Smith.

Burke is a staunch opponent of arbitrary power, and an advocate of colonial liberty. However,
he defends the prescriptive powers of the state, and argues that liberty should be tempered by
self-restraint. Smith advocates a “system of natural liberty” in economic affairs, but
acknowledges that such a system takes place within the framework of a coercive state. In
terms of policy, Burke and Smith share similar views on external free trade and laissez-faire
within the domestic economy, but there are important stylistic and substantive differences in
their views on the relief of the poor.

Ultimately, this study argues that Burke and Smith’s complementary policymaking
framework, rather than their actual views on policy, is the true point of convergence between
them.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank my supervisor, Dr Gerhard Wolmarans, for the advice and insight he
has given me throughout this project;

My colleagues at the University of Pretoria, for the stimulating discussions that are an endless
source of new and interesting ideas;

My friends, for their support, their patience, and their invaluable companionship;

Kylie, for helping me to stay motivated, and for the immense amount of editing work that she
undertook without complaint;

And finally, my parents, for their empathy and understanding throughout this project, and for
introducing me to complex ideas about politics and economics when I was very young. I
would not have been able to complete this project without them.
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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

Adam Smith:

CAS – The Correspondence of Adam Smith
HLM – History of Ancient Logics and Metaphysics
HOA – The History of Astronomy
OES – Of The External Senses
TMS – The Theory of Moral Sentiments
WN1 – The Wealth of Nations, Vol. 1
WN2 – The Wealth of Nations, Vol. 2

Edmund Burke:

ANW – An Appeal from the New to the Old Whigs
CEB – The Correspondence of Edmund Burke
LCD – Letter to Charles-Jean-François Depont
LMN – Letter to a Member of the National Assembly
LRP – Letters on a Regicide Peace
LSB – Letter to the Sheriffs of Bristol
OSN – Observations on the Present State of the Nation
RPA – Remarks on the Policy of the Allies With Respect to France
RRF – Reflections on the Revolution in France
SB – Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful
SCA – Speech on Conciliation with America
SDP – Speech on A Bill For Shortening the Duration of Parliaments
SFI – Speech on Fox’s East India Bill
SEB – Speech to the Electors of Bristol
SER – Speech on the Economical Reform
SRP – Speech on the Reform of the Representation of the Commons In Parliament
SPU – Speech on the Petition of the Unitarians
SWH – Speech In The Impeachment of Warren Hastings
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TDS – Thoughts and Details on Scarcity
TFA – Thoughts on French Affairs
TPD – Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents
TP – Tracts on the Popery Laws

A note on primary sources:

Many of the in-text references in this study refer to primary sources written by Adam Smith
and Edmund Burke. In order to make it easier for the reader to keep track of which sources
are referenced in the text, I have chosen to reference all primary sources using abbreviations.
In addition to the list of abbreviations in this section, full bibliographic details for each of
these sources can be found in the bibliography.

In the majority of cases, I have used electronic versions of the works of Smith and Burke
provided by the Online Library of Liberty (OLL) in Indianapolis, Indiana. Where this is the
case, I have indicated it in the bibliography. The electronic editions are paginated files in
Adobe Acrobat format, and can be downloaded from the OLL’s website. In the case of Adam
Smith, these electronic editions are derived from the Glasgow Edition of his works, which is
widely considered to be the fullest and most complete compilation of Smith’s writings. By
making these original texts freely available in a format that can be searched, cross-referenced
and copied, the OLL has performed an invaluable service for students of political theory.

In cases where the electronic editions are used, all in-text page references refer to the
electronic edition and not the printed edition.

The electronic editions of primary sources written by Edmund Burke that are used in this
study are no longer under copyright and are in the public domain. The Glasgow Edition of the
Works and Correspondence of Adam Smith and the associated volumes are published in
hardcover by Oxford University Press. The online edition is published by Liberty Fund under
license from Oxford University Press.

Electronic editions of primary sources can be downloaded from the OLL at its web address:
http://oll.libertyfund.org/
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 1: “The Only Man I Ever Knew”
Introduction

1.1 Introduction 1
1.2 Research Problem 3
1.3 Research Methodology & Literature Review 5
1.4 Research Design 8

Chapter 2: “The Most Hardened Violator of the Laws”
Smith and Burke on Human Nature

2.1 Introduction 11
2.2 The Origin of Moral Sentiments 12
2.3 Self-Interest, Proximity & the Limits of Sympathy 15
2.4 Burke’s Views on Sympathy 19
2.5 Are People Good or Bad? 21
2.6 Moral Reasoning versus Moral Sentiments 23
2.7 Conclusion 26

Chapter 3: “The Languid and Precarious Operation of Reason”
Burke and Smith’s Empiricist Epistemology

3.1 Introduction 28
3.2 Burke’s Empiricist Epistemology 29
3.3 Adam Smith’s Theory of Knowledge 33
3.4 Burke on Social Complexity 39
3.5 Adam Smith and the Complex Economy 43
3.6 Conclusion 47

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Chapter 4: “A Fixed Rule and an Occasional Deviation”
Coping with the Complex Society (Part I)

4.1 Introduction 49
4.2 Burke’s View of Rationalism in Politics 49
4.3 Coping with Social Complexity 56
4.4 Tradition as an Evolutionary Mechanism 61
4.5 Conclusion 64

Chapter 5: “Led By an Invisible Hand”
Coping with the Complex Society (Part II)

5.1 Introduction 66
5.2 Adam Smith and the ‘Man of System’ 66
5.3 Pragmatism & Contingency in the Wealth of Nations 68
5.4 Smith’s Dispute with the Physiocrats 73
5.5 Markets and the Problem of Information Dispersal 77
5.6 The Economy as the Product of Bottom-Up Complexity 80
5.7 Conclusion 83

Chapter 6: “A Controlling Power upon Will and Appetite”
Burke and Smith on Freedom and Power (Part I)

6.1 Introduction 87
6.2 Edmund Burke’s Conception of Freedom 89
6.3 Colonial Liberty and Reform 93
6.4 Self-Restraint and the Limits of Freedom 97
6.5 Burke on Power and Prescription 102
6.6 Prescription & Individual Rights 106
6.7 Gentle Power and the Revolutionary State 108
6.8 Conclusion 111

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Chapter 7: “Free In Our Present Sense of the Word”
Burke and Smith on Freedom and Power (Part II)

7.1 Introduction 114
7.2 Adam Smith’s Simple System of Natural Liberty 115
7.3 Self-Interested Liberty in the Marketplace 117
7.4 Liberty in the Realm of Morality and Politics 120
7.5 Adam Smith and the Limits of Freedom 127
7.6 Adam Smith on Power 129
7.7 Conclusion: Burke & Smith on Freedom and Power 133

Chapter 8: “The Unrestrained Freedom of Buying and Selling”
Burke and Smith on Domestic and Economic Policy

8.1 Introduction 139
8.2 Free Trade 140
8.3 Domestic Laissez-Faire 146
8.4 The Relief of the Poor 152
8.5 Conclusion 158

Chapter 9: “The Species is Wise”
Conclusion 161

Bibliography 171
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TABLE OF FIGURES

Fig. 1: Abbé Sièyès proposed division of France into a series of square,
geometric départements 63
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