THE THEME OF CHANGE IN THE CONSERVATIVE IDEOLOGY

This paper aims to clarify the role of change in the conservative thought and offer a framework for analyzing conservatism through this concept. Although some thinkers perceive conservatism and change as mutually exclusive concepts, the theme of change always appears in both conservative politics and the conservative political thought. Changes proposed by the conservatives are justified through the ‘natural-artificial’ dichotomy. Nevertheless, since the application of this dichotomy to the social norms is necessarily a theoretical move, there is a dilemma for the conservative mind which despises the theoretical thinking for the sake of the practical wisdom. This dilemma is unavoidable because like any other ideology, conservatism has a vision of ideal society, and ideologies are by their nature transformative, in other words, they are ‘anti-conservative’, in the narrow sense of the term.

MUHAFAZAKÂR İDEOLOJİDE DEĞİŞİM TEMASI

Bu makale, muhafazakâr düşüncede değişim kavramının yerini açıklığa kavuşturmayı ve değişim kavramı üzerinden muhafazakâr siyasetin okunmasını sağlayacak bir çerçeve önermeyi amaçlar. Muhafazakârlık ve değişim kavramlarının birbirlerini dışladığını ileri süren düşünürler olsa da, gerek muhafazakâr siyasette gerekse bu siyasetin düşünsel altyapısını oluşturan düşünürlerin eserlerinde bir değişim temasına her zaman rastlanır. Muhafazakârlık önerdiği toplumsal ve siyasal değişimleri ‘doğal-yapay’ kavram çifti üzerinden meşrulaştırır. Ancak bu ayrımın toplumsal formlara uygulanması zorunlu olarak kuramsal bir manevra olduğu için, gündelik yaşamın bilgeliğini kuramsal akla üstün tutan muhafazakâr akıl bu noktada bir çıkmaza düşmektedir. Bunun nedeni, her ideolojide olduğu gibi muhafazakârlıkta da bir ideal toplum kurgusunun olması, ideolojilerin doğaları gereği dönüştürücü olmaları, bir diğer ifadeyle kavramın dar anlamıyla anti-muhafazakâr olmalarıdır.

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