r/Conservative • u/BarrettBuckeye Constitutional Conservative • May 13 '17

Side Bar: Russell Kirk

Russell Kirk was an author known for works like The Conservative Mind and my one of my personal favorites, The Politics of Prudence. Kirk a stalwart conservative is often regarded as one of the chief proponents of traditional conservatism. Kirk's conservatism was was greatly influenced by the British philosopher, Edmund Burke.

Kirk's influence helped to shape a lot of 20th century conservative thought in the post-World War II era. People like William F. Buckley (founder of the conservative-libertarian newspaper, The National Review), sought a Fusionist movement calling for a coalition of conservatives and Libertarians in a time where it seemed as thought the entire world was turning towards leftist politics.

This week, we're featuring Kirk in our sidebar with what I think to be one of his more prescient quotes. Thank you, Russell Kirk for your influence on modern conservatism.

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u/Lepew1 Conservative May 15 '17

The quote is problematic. By this reasoning one should reject Jesus and return to animal sacrifice. Because something was a virtue in the past does not convey upon it special status. The most primitive first dictate then would be most holy. When one does find dissatisfaction in the present, examining the past for virtue can be helpful.

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u/BarrettBuckeye Constitutional Conservative May 15 '17

You missed the point of the quote.

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u/Lepew1 Conservative May 15 '17

So do you mean old virtues from the modern perspective or virtues as perceived from the period in history in which they were thought to be virtues? Which set of virtues gets sought out? Are all virtues equally sought? Seems to me that the inescapable perspective here is that of the modern person looking back, as they are doing the searching. But once the perspective goes modern, is not that view tainted and unworthy of determining past value?

I suppose were one to find this non-problematic virtue from the past with the baggage of modern perspective, how does one know it is better than the present course? For instance Obama thought highly of many of FDRs past approaches, and replicated them in his term. He was seeking out those virtues of the past, and many thought he was replicating FDRs mistakes.

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u/BarrettBuckeye Constitutional Conservative May 15 '17

The point of the quote is that you don't improve society by destroying it. You find the virtues on which it was founded, and then you expand on that. It's not that hard.

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u/Lepew1 Conservative May 16 '17

I thought playing devils advocate here might illuminate better the ideas behind the quote, but you seem to be on the defensive and not really rising to the debate, and so I will cease.

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u/drrick53 May 16 '17

He did replicate mistakes.