Towards Pragmatic Conservatism

Abstract

Where do pragmatism and conservatism intersect? What does pragmatism offer conservatives? Seth Vannatta answers these questions in Conservativism and Pragmatism in Law, Politics, and Ethics. He argues that, as a methodology, pragmatism concerns itself with the situated, the embedded, the contextual, the experiential, the fallible, the social, and the customary. Chief among its concerns is lived experience. It recalls philosophical modes associated with Michael Oakeshott, Edmund Burke, F. A. Hayek, and Russell Kirk. This essay explains and evaluates Vannatta’s arguments about pragmatism and conservatism with an eye toward reanimating a pragmatic conservative tradition.

Keywords: Pragmatism, Conservatism, Michael Oakeshott, F. A. Hayek, Russell Kirk, Edmund Burke, Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.