In "Virtue and the Promise of Conservatism", Bruce Frohnen attempts to rescue the essence of conservative virtue from rationalists and materialists of whatever political colour. He argues that we have "lost and must attempt to regain the conservative good life and the outlook which made it possible". The tools needed to do that, according to Frohnen, are humility and political action aimed at combating the centralising and materialistic structures and beliefs interfering with the formation and retention of family, church and neighbourhood. Drawing from the writings of Edmund Burke and Alexis de Tocqueville, both critics of untempered reason and "the drive toward a spiritually impoverished egalitarian materialism", Frohnen explores how their work has influenced individuals as diverse as traditionalist Russell Kirk, "apocalyptic" libertarian Michael Oakeshott, and neo-conservative Irving Kristol. While differing greatly in their views and prescriptions, these contemporary conservatives, Frohnen shows, are nevertheless united in their desire to preserve the local community's natural and fundamental institutions.
This preservation, he argues, requires a renewed faith in and humble acceptance of the essential good contained within these institutions.
- ISBN10 0700605584
- ISBN13 9780700605583
- Publish Date 1 January 1993
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 2 October 2008
- Publish Country US
- Imprint University Press of Kansas
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 192
- Language English