Conservatism vs Liberalism
Conservatism and Liberalism are two types of schools of thought that showed tremendous difference between them. Liberalism believes in the significance of liberty and equal rights. On the other hand, conservatism tries to promote the maintenance of traditional institutions. In other words, it aims at conservation of tradition. This is the main difference between the two schools of thought. Based on these main differences, conservatism and liberalism has many more different characteristics. Edmund Burke is known as the father of conservatism. Meanwhile, John Locke is considered as the first person to develop a liberal philosophy. Let us see some more information about these two ideologies.
What is Conservatism?
Conservatism aims at the preservation of things as they are and thus they are not for any kind of change when it comes to the functioning of things. Conservatism is looked upon as an attitude. It was not looked upon as a philosophy. It was regarded as a constant force that helped in the development of the society. Conservatism is looked upon as an ideology by some of the thinkers of the past.
Several variants of conservatism were known until now. They include liberal conservatism, libertarian conservatism, fiscal conservatism, green conservatism, cultural conservatism, social conservatism and religious conservatism.
Conservatism nowadays expects the government to function as a small scale institution allowing more of individual responsibility for everyone. Rather than expecting the government to solve every problem, conservatism believes that every individual should take more responsibility in solving problems.
Some examples of the traditional views of conservatism are here. For example, conservatism believes that abortion is not acceptable. It upholds the traditional value that a baby conceived is equal to an already functioning and living human being. Also, conservatism does not agree with euthanasia. Conservatism refuses to believe that letting a terminally ill person commit suicide is ethical. When it comes to death penalty, people who hold conservative ideas believe that it is the rightful punishment for the crime of killing another person. This is going with the traditional belief that the punishment should fit the crime.
Edmund Burke
What is Liberalism?
Liberalism believes in liberty and equality. It believes that there should be minimum or no government interventions in political institutions or religions as these are supposed to be areas where anyone can be involved freely. Also, liberalism expects the government to ensure that people have their equal rights.
It should be said that liberalism connects various intellectual trends and schools. It is important to know that two kinds of liberalism became known world-wide. Classical liberalism became known widely in the eighteenth century, whereas social liberalism became hugely popular in the twentieth century. On the other hand, liberal philosophy was used in American Revolution and the French Revolution. It only means that liberalism was looked upon as a philosophy.
The primary concern of liberalism is to develop the world free from government intervention or, if it is not possible totally, then it would aim at the lessening of government intervention. Liberalism firmly believed that governments were stumbling blocks to individual success and hence they wanted the governments to stay out of individual lives. Moreover, liberalism supports fundamental ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, human rights and freedom of religion.
Some examples for liberalism are here. For example, liberalism believes that abortion is acceptable. It upholds that a woman has the right to do what she decides with her body and a fetus is not a living human being. Also, liberalism agrees with euthanasia. Liberalism believes that even a terminally ill person has a right to die with dignity if he or she wants to. See, this is liberty and freedom in doing what one wants. When it comes to death penalty, people who hold liberalistic ideas believe that the death penalty is not the rightful punishment for the crime of killing another person. Liberalism believes each death penalty has a chance of killing an innocent person.
John Locke
What is the difference between Conservatism and Liberalism?
• Beliefs of Conservatism and Liberalism:
• Conservatism believes in preserving the traditional values. They oppose changes that can disrupt the way things are now.
• Liberalism believes in liberty and equality. They believe everyone should have the right to live freely, and the government should make sure that equal rights are given to everyone.
• Government:
• Conservatism likes government intervention, but it expects the government to be small in scale so that there is more individual responsibility for citizens.
• Liberalism does not like government intervention. However, it expects the government to make sure the rights of people are protected.
• Types:
• Types of conservatism are liberal conservatism, libertarian conservatism, fiscal conservatism, green conservatism, cultural conservatism, social conservatism and religious conservatism.
• Types of liberalism are classical liberalism and social liberalism.
Images Courtesy: Edmund Burke and John Locke via Wikicommons (Public Domain)
