ABSTRACT
It has been said, and said, that conservatism came into being as a result of Burke’s reaction to the French Revolution (Burke 1999/1790). This is one of the many misunderstandings from which conservatism has long suffered. Conservatives aim to preserve political arrangements that are worth preserving. And surely it did not require the French Revolution to make reasonable people want to protect whatever they have found good against foolish attempts to abandon it and experiment with something new and untried. Conservatism is the political expression of this elementary requirement of prudence, not a mindless attachment to the past. It has the reasonable aim to preserve political arrangements that have stood the test of time, provided they are supported by those who live under them and enable them to make of their lives what they can. I will proceed by identifying several features of what I take to be the strongest version of conservatism (Kekes 1998). These features jointly define it and distinguish it from weaker versions, as well as from other political outlooks.
