CONSERVATISM RECRUDESCENT
519
"No legitimate use can be made in politics or political theory of the
concept of human sinfulness."6
Another important element in conservative thought is traditional–
ism. Mixed conservatism is selective and critical in its attitude to–
ward tradition. Viereck, for example, uses an ethical standard to
judge tradition: "Not all the past is worth keeping," he admits.
But integral conservatism is distrustful of ethical or rational judg–
ments of tradition and history. Integral conservatism bases its ethical
position on traditionalism and historicism.
Now, tradition is an habitual pattern of thinking and acting,
and as such is a fact of social life. But when habit is elevated as a
guide to action and is given the obligatory quality of an "ought," the
fact is transformed into a norm and becomes traditionalism. Thus,
the legitimacy of a social order may be based on tradition. But, as
Max Weber observed, there is absolutely nothing normative about
habit as such, "It is either a mechanism or a concrete pattern of
actual behavior, not a way men should act."7
By transforming a fact into a value, traditionalism leads to
confusion. Usually, it sets up the maze of circular reasoning. Thus,
if the conservative is asked, "Why should tradition be obeyed?" his
answer is likely to
be,
"Because obedience to tradition is the con–
dition of a well-ordered society." But if he is pursued with the ques–
tion, "What is a well-ordered society?" the conservative replies, "One
in which tradition is obeyed."
A similar error appears in conservative historicism. History be–
comes historicism when the fact of historical continuity is trans–
formed into a norm. Conservative historicism applies to events the
standard of continuous organic growth-what Viereck calls the
"unbroken organic continuity of historical development."s But those
who use this organic analogy would do well to heed Anton Menger's
admonition to remember that "hurricanes and earthquakes are no
less part of the regular course of nature than is the quiet growth of
animals or plants."9 Conservatives tend to overlook the fact that
revolutions are part of history and as much a product of social forces
6 Between Man and Man,
p .
77.
7 T. Parsons,
The Structure of Social Action,
p. 646.
8 "Liberals and Conservatives,"
Antioch Review,
vol. XI (1951),
p.
390.
9 Quoted in
Legal Philosophies of Lask, Radbruch and Dabin,
p.
62.
