International Symposium
Monday June 16th 2025
In contemporary Anglophone political philosophy, the idea of conservatism is almost entirely neglected. Contemporary philosophical discussions of freedom are expressed in terms of liberalism, and even the consideration of freedom in conservative thought is identified in terms of the principles of liberalism. Political ideologies such as “conservative liberalism” betray an illusion that the question of freedom cannot be posed without recourse to liberal ideas. Indeed, many conservative journalists and public commentators, and in the UK most Conservative politicians, treat freedom as their fundamental value and do not seem to conceptualize it differently from professed liberals.
Within conservative thought, however, especially in the United States, there has recently been a movement to rediscover a genuine conservatism, distinct from liberalism. Yoram Hazony has called for the rediscovery of “the practice of conservatism” within the rediscovery of “the history and philosophy of conservatism” itself.
When faced with the disastrous consequences of a particular course of action, we must retrace our steps and restore, as much as possible, the conditions that existed prior to setting out on this course (Hazony 2022).
Meanwhile, Patrick Deneen has recommended a “genuine regime change” through which “the creation of a postliberal order” can redefine “existing political forms” and replace the “rule by a progressive elite by a regime ordered to the common good”. Deneen grounds the possibility of a “postliberal new right” in terms of, like Hazony, “a rediscovery of early-modern forms of conservatism” and “conservatism’s earliest thinkers, who warned of the dangers emerging from an ideology of progress” (Deneen 2023). In both these approaches, the requirement to “rediscover” conservatism itself, its origins and development, is given the highest priority.
The aim of this symposium is to discuss the concept of freedom from the perspective of conservative thought, as part of the task of reconsidering the philosophical foundations of conservatism itself.
The full programme is below. If you would like to register for the symposium please send an email to conservative.thought@knappfoundation.ac.uk.
Programme
(all times are UK time)
Session 1
12:00-12:30 John Marenbon (Trinity College, University of Cambridge)
Conservative Philosophy and Freedom
12:30-13:15 Respondents: Thomas Pink (King’s College London), Laurence Hemming (Knapp Foundation), and TBC
13:15-13:30 General audience Q&A
13:30-14:00 Break
Session 2
14:00-14:45 Elizabeth Thomas and Ravi Chakraborty (Alliance University, Bengaluru)
Freely Evolving with the Nation, outside the Law: an alternative genealogy of freedom
14:45-15:30 Thomas Angier (University of Cape Town)
Freedom in Conservative Thought
15:30-16:15 Edmund Neill (Northeastern University, London)
Conservatism and Freedom: some problems and perspectives
16:15-16:45 Break
16:45-17:30 John Skorupski (University of St Andrews)
Conservative Conceptions of Freedom
17:30-18:15 Timothy Fuller (Colorado College)
Freedom as the Ordeal of Consciousness: three responses
18:15-18:45 Break
Session 3
18:45-19:30 John Marenbon in conversation with Eric Kaufmann (University of Buckingham)
19:30-19:45 General Audience Q&A
19:45 Close