History

History

Describe each in detail (conservatism, Liberalism, Romanticism, Nationalism, socialism)

Conservatism

To call conservatism a political philosophy is rather to overstate the case. Rather, conservatism is a tradition in political thought, characterised by perhaps three key features. The first is scepticism about reform: the currently existing state of things is thought by conservatives to contain historic wisdom, and proposals to reform the existing order are fraught with risk. This scepticism extends both to abstract reasoning about the principles governing human affairs - conservatives preferring the more solidly empirical approach - and scepticism towards any sort of radical or revolutionary change. Second, conservatism often rests on an organic conception of society and the state, where each element functions for the good of the whole. This is both an explanatory notion and a normative one: it can require that what an individual ought to do is to discover his or her role and then perform it (Waldron, 1987).

Thirdly, conservatism is deferential towards established authority without inquiring too deeply into the sources of that authority. It is, consequently, hostile to the social contract tradition of Locke, Hobbes and Rousseau. Lastly, conservatism tends to favour what it sometimes sees as natural hierarchies. Contemporary conservatives such as Roger Scruton and John Kekes express many of these themes, but they also target the egalitarianism which is a strong strand in contemporary political philosophy.

Liberalism

A family of ideas which have come to be closely related, though there are varieties of liberalism, some of which are antagonistic to each other. It is perhaps such an unstable notion that it ought to be seen as an essentially contested concept along the lines that W. B. Gallie suggests.

Foundational to liberalism is the idea of individual liberty, which is sometimes problematically characterised as 'negative liberty' though liberals certainly view autonomy as a central value. Liberals tend to accept some argument for the legitimacy of state institutions and for an obligation to obey them - differentiating themselves from anarchists. However, they often argue for a separate sphere of human rights, which may not be violated by a government regardless of its level of popular support for doing so - differentiating themselves from absolutists and authoritarians. Liberals favour state neutrality between different comprehensive conceptions of the good, and tend to assert the priority of the right over the good (though there are perfectionist liberals), in particular asserting the importance of the public/private distinction. Liberalism is also marked by a toleration of difference, and by concern for freedom of thought, freedom of expression and equality before the law (Waldron, 1987).

Romanticism

The meaning of romanticism is highly contested. Aside from German, English, and French manifestations, to say nothing of a multitude of other national species of romantic thought, analytical problems are compounded by psychological, sociological, political, historical, literary, theological, and aesthetic concerns. Many argue that romanticism is a historically bounded movement confined to the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the so-called Romantic Age, while a compelling counterargument can be made that romanticism consists of an enduring response toward the potentialities ...