Conservatism

Simply put, conservatism is another reaction to revolution—historically, to the French one, and theoretically, to the idea itself. Like liberalism, conservatism rejects the revolution but does not share the liberal optimism about progress and emancipation. It does not oppose it, either; that’s what traditionalism does, and we shall discuss it separately. Then, first in France, later in Germany, a radical version of conservatism also emerged that embraced the revolutionary attitude (the counter-revolutionary movement, revolutionary conservatism), and many tenets of traditionalism (community instead of society), but also of national liberalism (the nation ranked above civilization).