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Full Idea
Conservatives have made the concept of allegiance, conceived as a power, fundamental to their description of the experience of society
Gist of Idea
Allegiance is fundamental to the conservative view of society
Source
Roger Scruton (A Dictionary of Political Thought [1982], 'allegiance')
Book Ref
Scruton,Roger: 'A Dictionary of Political Thought' [Pan 1983], p.12
A Reaction
This provokes the famous slogan of "My country - right or wrong!" However, the issue here is not going to be decided by a consequentialist analysis, but by a view a of human nature. I think I would want to carefully prise allegiance apart from loyalty.
| 23393 | Confucianism assumes that all good developments have happened, and there is only one Way [Norden on Kongzi (Confucius)] |
| 7257 | All modern social systems seem to be conspiracies of the rich [More,T] |
| 21988 | In the 1840s Hegel seemed to defend society being right as it is, as a manifestation of Mind [Hegel, by Singer] |
| 23817 | We need both equality (to attend to human needs) and hierarchy (as a scale of responsibilities) [Weil] |
| 23829 | National leaders want to preserve necessary order - but always the existing order [Weil] |
| 23107 | Prosperity is a higher social virtue than justice [Kekes] |
| 22259 | Conservatives are either individualistic, or communal [Sandel] |
| 7588 | Allegiance is fundamental to the conservative view of society [Scruton] |
| 8990 | So-called 'liberation' is the enemy of freedom, destroying the very structures that are needed [Scruton] |
| 20451 | Belief that humans are wicked leads to authoritarian politics [Critchley] |
| 22838 | Societies need shared values, so conservatism is right if rational discussion of values is impossible [Charvet] |
| 23126 | Conservatives often want peace, prosperity and tolerance, but not social fairness [Gopnik] |
| 23132 | Conservatives believe obedience and rank are essential to social order [Gopnik] |