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Analytic Conservatism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 September 2004

GEOFFREY BRENNAN
Affiliation:
Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University
ALAN HAMLIN
Affiliation:
Economics, University of Southampton

Abstract

We propose an analytic account of dispositional conservatism that attempts to uncover a foundation of what is often taken to be an anti-foundationalist position. We identify a bias in favour of the status quo as a key component of the conservative disposition and address the question of the justification of such a conservative disposition, and the circumstances in which the widespread adoption of such a disposition might be normatively desirable. Our analysis builds on a structural link between the economist's traditional emphasis on questions of feasibility and the conservative's attachment to the status quo.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 2004 Cambridge University Press

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