ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the ideas of Edmund Burke, Alexis de Tocqueville, and Michael Oakeshott. It discusses each of the writers who advocate different kinds of social values that are considered responsible for both social cohesion and individual identity, and thus there are different conceptions of society and of the role civic virtue plays in society. For Burke, in addition to religion and regard for the traditions associated with both a natural aristocracy and a natural order to society, society is characterized by respect for the importance of local affiliations and of moderation. Tocqueville demonstrates a way to maintain Burke's commitment to civic virtue while embracing equality. The chapter discusses the threats to equality and Tocqueville's reason for suggesting that individuals would be willing to give up their political liberty. Oakeshott, a twentieth-century British conservative philosopher, attacks the rationalist perspective in politics. Oakeshott's understanding of European civilization is predicated upon a conception of the individual as a "free agent".
