Two Issues in Conservatism

It strikes me that there are two issues that may be puzzling. The first is conservatism without God. I think some people may wonder about that, thinking that you have to have old-time religion to be conservative. In fact, I believe that many of them think the notion of atheistic conservatism is eccentric or even nonsensical. In fact, the opposite is true; the status of conservatism is logically unrelated to God. So, I'll have a post about that in a while.

The other issue is a thornier and not entirely clear to me yet. It is that conservatism is not on the right, as opposed to the left. If been told several times by people wiser than me that the connection between conservatism and "the right" is a ruse perpetrated by the left. A regular named Jerry ("jerry") over at Roger Simon's site told me this a year or two ago, for example, saying that "right" was coined by Stalin to distinguish himself from other leftists with whom he was incompetion. What makes the issue even more interesting is that "left" must disappear when we dissolve "right" into nonsensehood. Anyway, I'm not the historian that Jerry is. But I am a philosopher, and I have something to say about the matter. It does seem to me that the philosophical status of conservatism is not to the right in any sense at all. There will be a lot to think when we get to that post, as we will do soon.

Meanwhile, youse chew these two issues over on your own. Then stop by.

Also, I'll be continuing my series of short studies of the works of John Kekes. First up will be his recent The Art of Life. John Kekes is the greatest American conservative philosopher (though I admit that that's not saying much.) Peruse my archives for posts presenting his ideas.