Hobbes, Burke and Oakeshott | Edexcel A-Level Politics
Updated: 2 days ago
For Specification 9PL0
Edexcel A-Level Politics | Free Revision Notes
Estimated study time:Â 45 to 55 minutes
These Hobbes, Burke and Oakeshott A-Level Politics revision notes cover three of the five specified conservative thinkers in Edexcel 9PL0. You will examine Thomas Hobbes on order and human nature, Edmund Burke on cautious change, tradition and empiricism, and Michael Oakeshott on human imperfection and pragmatism. The thinkers are important because Edexcel expects them to be used to exemplify conservative ideas rather than studied through detailed biography. They therefore build directly on conservative principles and human imperfection.
Learning Objectives 🎯
By the end of this revision page, you should be able to:
Explain Hobbes's conservative ideas concerning order and human nature.
Explain Burke's belief that political change should be cautious and organic.
Explain Burke's ideas of tradition and empiricism.
Explain Oakeshott's understanding of human imperfection and an unpredictable society.
Explain Oakeshott's support for pragmatism.
Apply and compare the three thinkers when analysing conservative ideas in a 24-mark Political Ideas question.
Revision Notes đź“š
Hobbes, Burke and Oakeshott A-Level Politics revision
Thomas Hobbes, Edmund Burke and Michael Oakeshott are three of the five conservative thinkers named in the Edexcel specification.
The specification is very clear about how they should be studied: students should focus on the specified key ideas that the thinkers exemplify rather than detailed biographical information.
This means that in an examination, knowing large amounts about a thinker's life is much less useful than being able to connect their specified ideas to:
human nature;
society;
the state;
conservative approaches to change;
areas of agreement and disagreement within conservatism.
The basic overview is:
Thinker | Specified ideas | Main conservative link |
Thomas Hobbes | Order and human nature | Human imperfection and the need for an ordered society |
Edmund Burke | Change, tradition and empiricism | Cautious organic change and accumulated experience |
Michael Oakeshott | Human imperfection and pragmatism | Limits of human understanding and decisions based on what works |
Thomas Hobbes: order
Edexcel identifies order as one of Hobbes's two required ideas.
His specified position is that:
an ordered society should balance the human need to lead a free life.
The important idea is therefore a relationship between freedom and order.
Hobbes recognises the human need for freedom, but conservative thought also stresses that freedom exists within an organised society.
The balance can be represented as:
Humans have a need to lead a free life
↓
but humans also require
↓
an ordered society
↓
therefore
↓
freedom and order must be balanced
This makes Hobbes useful in essays about conservative attitudes towards the state, authority and human nature.
Why order matters to Hobbes
Hobbes's idea of order connects with the wider conservative belief that stable society cannot simply be assumed.
If human beings are vulnerable and can be led astray, social order provides a framework within which people can live.
His argument therefore links:
human nature → need for order → ordered society
This is a good example of turning AO1 knowledge into AO2 analysis.
Rather than simply writing:
Hobbes believes in order.
A stronger explanation would be:
Hobbes's support for an ordered society follows from his pessimistic understanding of human nature. Because humans are needy, vulnerable and capable of being led astray, conservatives can use Hobbes to demonstrate why unrestricted individual freedom may need to be balanced against social order.
This directly connects the thinker's ideas.
Hobbes: human nature
The second specified Hobbes idea is human nature.
Edexcel states that Hobbes sees human beings as:
needy;
vulnerable;
easily led astray in their attempts to understand the world around them.
This connects directly to the conservative idea of human imperfection.
You have already studied the three aspects of human imperfection in Human imperfection, organic society, paternalism and libertarianism:
psychological imperfection;
moral imperfection;
intellectual imperfection.
Hobbes helps exemplify the wider conservative argument that individuals cannot always be assumed to be completely independent, rational and capable of making consistently good decisions.
Neediness and vulnerability
The description of humans as needy and vulnerable supports the conservative view that individuals require security.
Humans are not completely self-sufficient.
The reasoning is:
Humans are vulnerable
↓
they require stability and security
↓
an ordered society provides a framework for life
This makes Hobbes particularly relevant when discussing psychological human imperfection.
Humans being easily led astray
Hobbes also presents human beings as capable of being easily led astray.
This reinforces the conservative suspicion that individual judgement is not infallible.
The implication is not that freedom has no value. Edexcel specifically includes the need to balance order with the human desire for a free life.
The important relationship is therefore:
Human need | Hobbesian conservative response |
Freedom | People have a need to lead a free life |
Security | Humans are needy and vulnerable |
Limited judgement | Humans can be led astray |
Political consequence | Freedom must exist within an ordered society |
Using Hobbes in an essay
Hobbes is particularly useful for questions involving:
human nature;
human imperfection;
order;
authority;
the role of the state.
However, avoid treating Hobbes as interchangeable with Burke or Oakeshott.
The 2019 examiner report noted that candidates sometimes treated Hobbes and Burke as if they simply held the same views rather than identifying how their ideas contributed differently to conservative arguments.
A useful distinction is:
Hobbes helps explain why order is required because of human nature.
Burke helps explain why inherited arrangements and cautious change should be respected.
Oakeshott helps explain why imperfect humans should favour pragmatism rather than certainty.
Edmund Burke: change
Edexcel identifies change as Burke's first specified idea.
Burke argues that:
political change should be undertaken with great caution and organically.
This means Burke should not be presented as simply opposing all political change.
Instead, his conservative approach is concerned with how change occurs.
Cautious change
Burke's emphasis on caution reflects conservative suspicion of dramatic attempts to transform society.
Political arrangements should not be altered without considering the possible consequences.
His approach therefore favours:
caution;
gradual adaptation;
continuity;
development from existing arrangements.
This links directly to organic change.
Organic change
Organic change develops from the society that already exists.
It does not treat society as something that can simply be reconstructed from the beginning.
A useful comparison is:
Organic change | Radical change |
Cautious | Drastic |
Develops from existing society | Can seek major transformation |
Values continuity | May disrupt inherited arrangements |
Associated with Burke | Contrasts with traditional conservative caution |
The conservative concept of change to conserve also helps explain Burke's position.
Edexcel defines change to conserve as the idea that society should adapt to changing circumstances rather than reject change completely and risk rebellion or revolution.
Burke's cautious approach therefore demonstrates how conservatism can combine continuity with adaptation.
This develops the ideas studied in Pragmatism and tradition.
Burke: tradition
Burke's second specified area is tradition and empiricism.
Edexcel states that practices passed down for generations should be respected.
This links directly to the conservative concept of tradition as accumulated wisdom.
Practices that have developed and survived across generations represent experience inherited from the past.
The reasoning is:
Practices are passed through generations↓they embody accumulated experience↓their value may not be fully understood by one generation↓they deserve respect rather than automatic rejection
Burke's traditionalism therefore reinforces conservative arguments for continuity and stability.
Tradition and connections between generations
The wider conservative principle of tradition emphasises a connection between generations.
Burke is particularly useful because his ideas provide a clear thinker link for this principle.
Rather than considering only what appears useful to the present generation, a Burkean approach respects what has developed over time.
This makes Burke relevant to questions concerning:
tradition;
society;
stability;
organic change;
pragmatism;
conservative attitudes towards political change.
Burke: empiricism
Empiricism is one of the key terms specifically listed for Conservative Thinkers.
Edexcel defines empiricism as:
the idea that knowledge comes from real experience and not from abstract theories.
This is essential for understanding why Burke values tradition.
If knowledge develops from real experience, practices that have survived through generations contain an important form of knowledge.
The connection is:
Empiricism
↓
knowledge comes from experience
↓
Tradition
↓
inherited practices contain accumulated experience
↓
Caution
↓do not replace them casually with abstract alternatives
This is one of the strongest analytical chains to learn for Burke.
Empiricism versus abstract theory
Burke's empiricism reinforces a broader conservative distrust of political certainty.
A political theory may claim that a completely different system would work better.
An empirical conservative response asks whether this claim is supported by real experience.
Burke therefore supports the conservative preference for:
experience over abstraction;
inherited knowledge over theoretical certainty;
cautious reform over drastic change.
The 2024 mark scheme explicitly links Burke's cautious approach to change with conservative reliance on tradition, experience and history.
Burke and change to conserve
There is an important relationship between Burke's support for tradition and his acceptance of change.
They are not contradictory.
A practice may need to adapt if adaptation is necessary to preserve wider stability.
Therefore:
Burke values tradition
↓
but society cannot remain completely unchanged
↓
cautious organic reform may become necessary
↓
so that
↓
wider continuity can be conserved
This is why describing Burke as someone who simply "opposes change" is inaccurate.
Michael Oakeshott: human imperfection
Edexcel's first specified Oakeshott idea is human imperfection.
The specification associates Oakeshott with the suggestion that:
society is unpredictable;
humans are imperfect.
These two points are closely connected.
If humans are imperfect, there are limits to their ability to understand and predict complex societies.
Society is unpredictable
Oakeshott's emphasis on unpredictability is particularly relevant to intellectual human imperfection.
Human beings cannot necessarily know exactly what the consequences of political decisions will be.
The reasoning is:
Society is unpredictable
↓
human knowledge is limited
↓
political certainty is dangerous
↓
cautious and flexible judgement becomes preferable
This creates a direct link between Oakeshott's two specified ideas:
human imperfection → pragmatism
Oakeshott and intellectual imperfection
Conservative human imperfection contains psychological, moral and intellectual elements.
Oakeshott is particularly useful for the intellectual aspect.
Humans cannot fully comprehend an unpredictable society.
The 2024 Edexcel mark scheme illustrates this link by associating Oakeshott with conservative suspicion of abstract ideologies that claim to understand what is too complex to comprehend fully.
The examination significance is important.
If humans have limited understanding, conservatives have a reason to distrust attempts to impose a complete theoretical blueprint upon society.
Oakeshott: pragmatism
Oakeshott's second specified idea is pragmatism.
Edexcel describes this as the belief that conservatism is about being pragmatic.
The wider conservative definition of pragmatism is a flexible approach in which decisions are made according to what works.
Oakeshott therefore exemplifies the conservative preference for practical judgement rather than rigid ideological commitment.
Why does human imperfection lead to pragmatism?
This connection is particularly important.
If society were perfectly predictable and humans possessed perfect knowledge, politicians might confidently follow fixed plans.
Oakeshott rejects these assumptions.
Instead:
Humans are imperfect+Society is unpredictable
↓
politicians cannot know every consequence
↓
fixed ideological solutions are unreliable
↓
decisions should be based on circumstances and experience
↓
pragmatism
This is a strong AO2 chain because it explains why Oakeshott's two ideas fit together.
Oakeshott and traditional or one-nation conservatism
The Edexcel specification links pragmatism particularly to traditional conservative and one-nation conservative philosophy.
Oakeshott can therefore help exemplify this wider strand of conservative thought.
This becomes particularly useful when comparing these strands with the more ideological approach associated with the New Right in Traditional, one-nation and New Right conservatism.
Comparing Hobbes, Burke and Oakeshott
Although the three thinkers are all specified under conservatism, they should not simply be treated as saying the same thing.
Issue | Hobbes | Burke | Oakeshott |
Human nature | Humans are needy, vulnerable and easily led astray | Not his specified focus in this content area | Humans are imperfect |
Society | Ordered society should balance order with the need for freedom | Inherited practices should be respected | Society is unpredictable |
Change | Not a specified Hobbes idea | Change should be cautious and organic | Pragmatism supports flexible responses |
Tradition | Not a specified Hobbes idea | Practices passed down through generations deserve respect | Connected indirectly through pragmatic conservatism |
Knowledge | Humans may be led astray | Empiricism, knowledge comes from real experience | Human knowledge is limited by imperfection and unpredictability |
Main contribution | Need for order | Tradition and cautious organic change | Pragmatism grounded in human imperfection |
Where do the thinkers agree?
There are important connections between them.
Hobbes and Oakeshott
Both can be used to demonstrate a relatively pessimistic conservative view of human beings.
Hobbes describes people as needy, vulnerable and easily led astray.
Oakeshott emphasises human imperfection and the unpredictability of society.
They therefore support the broader conservative rejection of an overly optimistic view of human rationality.
Burke and Oakeshott
Burke and Oakeshott connect particularly strongly over how political decisions should be made.
Burke emphasises caution, tradition and real experience.
Oakeshott emphasises pragmatism and the limitations created by human imperfection.
Both can therefore support a conservative preference for practical, cautious politics rather than rigid ideological plans.
The 2024 mark scheme uses both thinkers to demonstrate traditional and one-nation conservative agreement over pragmatism.
Hobbes and Burke
Both can support arguments that stable society matters.
However, the specified reasoning is different:
Hobbes begins primarily with human nature and the need for order.
Burke begins primarily with tradition, experience and cautious change.
This distinction is useful because examiner reports have warned against treating conservative thinkers as interchangeable.
Linking the thinkers to the wider conservatism topic
The three thinkers should be used to exemplify the core ideas and divisions already studied.
Core conservative concept | Most useful thinker link |
Human imperfection | Hobbes and Oakeshott |
Order | Hobbes |
Tradition | Burke |
Organic change | Burke |
Change to conserve | Burke |
Empiricism | Burke |
Pragmatism | Oakeshott |
Caution towards ideology | Burke and Oakeshott |
This is exactly why the thinkers are studied after the core principles and conservative strands.
The next lesson, New Right thinkers, provides a significant contrast because Rand and Nozick exemplify rational self-interest, libertarianism and self-ownership.
How to use thinkers in a 24-mark answer
Edexcel's Core Political Ideas question is worth 24 marks and assesses AO1, AO2 and AO3. The specification states that these questions focus on the core ideas and divisions but require students to use the key ideas of thinkers in their answers.
This means an answer should not become an essay about Hobbes, Burke and Oakeshott themselves.
Instead:
Identify the conservative argument or strand.
Explain the relevant principle.
Use a specified thinker to exemplify it.
Compare it with an opposing or qualifying view.
Evaluate how convincing or significant the comparison is.
For example:
Claim:Â Traditional and one-nation conservatives are united in favouring pragmatic change.
Thinker:Â Burke supports cautious organic change, while Oakeshott regards conservatism as pragmatic.
Analysis:Â Both reject the assumption that society can safely be transformed according to rigid theoretical plans.
Counterpoint:Â New Right conservatism can be more ideological.
Evaluation:Â This makes pragmatism a strong source of agreement between traditional and one-nation conservatism but not conservatism as a whole.
This is far stronger than writing a paragraph containing everything you know about Burke.
Hints from the Examiner Reports đź’ˇ
Examiner hint:Â Use thinkers to support your argument, rather than making the thinkers themselves the structure of your essay.
The 2022 examiner report warned that some students became too thinker-driven. Stronger answers were led by conservative strands or themes, with Hobbes, Burke, Oakeshott and the other specified thinkers used to exemplify those arguments.
For example, an essay on human nature should not contain separate "Hobbes paragraph", "Burke paragraph" and "Oakeshott paragraph" sections. Compare conservative approaches to human nature and use the thinkers where they strengthen those comparisons.
Examiner hint:Â Explain quotations or thinker references rather than dropping them into an answer.
The 2022 examiner report noted that quotations were sometimes used without explaining their meaning or connection to the question. The principle applies equally to named thinker references.
Writing "Oakeshott supports pragmatism"Â is AO1.
Explaining why his view of an unpredictable society supports pragmatic decision-making begins to develop AO2.
Examiner hint:Â Keep a tight focus on the exact issue in the question.
The 2019 examiner report found that some candidates understood conservative thinkers but could not relate their ideas clearly to the premise being assessed.
Before using a thinker, ask:
What exactly does this thinker prove about the question?
Examiner hint:Â Do not treat conservative thinkers as interchangeable.
Examiners noted that Hobbes and Burke were sometimes treated as though their views were the same.
Remember their different specified contributions:
Hobbes: order and human nature.
Burke: change, tradition and empiricism.
Oakeshott: human imperfection and pragmatism.
Examiner hint:Â Make comparisons and judgements throughout a Political Ideas response.
The 2023 examiner report identified AO3 as a major weakness and found that candidates sometimes discussed strands separately rather than developing agreement and disagreement through their paragraphs.
Your thinker knowledge should therefore contribute to an argument, not just demonstrate recall.
Examiner hint:Â Learn the specified thinkers accurately.
Previous Edexcel marking guidance has made clear that appropriate use of specified thinkers is essential in Core Political Ideas responses, alongside consideration of both sides of the debate.
Do not substitute politicians or unrelated thinkers for Hobbes, Burke, Oakeshott, Rand and Nozick when the question requires conservative thinkers.
Common Mistakes ⚠️
Mistake: Learning detailed biographies instead of the specified ideas
Why this is incorrect: Edexcel explicitly states that students should focus on the listed key ideas rather than detailed biographical information.
How to improve:
Learn each thinker as a compact set of examinable concepts:
Hobbes = order + human nature.
Burke = change + tradition + empiricism.
Oakeshott = human imperfection + pragmatism.
Mistake: Saying Hobbes opposes freedom
Why this is incorrect: The specification states that an ordered society should balance order with the human need to lead a free life.
How to improve: Explain the relationship rather than presenting freedom and order as absolute opposites.
Mistake: Saying Burke rejects all change
Why this is incorrect: Burke supports political change when it is undertaken cautiously and organically.
How to improve: Use the phrase cautious organic change and connect it to change to conserve.
Mistake: Defining empiricism as simply "tradition"
Why this is incorrect: The two concepts are linked but different.
How to improve:
Remember:
empiricism = knowledge from real experience rather than abstract theories;
tradition = accumulated wisdom and practices passed between generations.
Burke links them because long-established practices embody accumulated experience.
Mistake: Treating Oakeshott's pragmatism as separate from human imperfection
Why this is incorrect: The ideas logically reinforce one another.
How to improve: Use the analytical chain:
imperfect humans + unpredictable society → limited certainty → pragmatic decisions based on what works.
Mistake: Writing everything you know about a thinker
Why this is incorrect: Political Ideas questions assess arguments about conservatism, not biographies of conservative thinkers.
How to improve: Select only the thinker idea that directly helps answer the question.
Mistake: Treating Hobbes, Burke and Oakeshott as completely identical
Why this is incorrect: Although there are areas of compatibility, each thinker has a different specified focus.
How to improve:
Compare their reasoning:
Hobbes starts with imperfect and vulnerable humans.
Burke stresses inherited experience and tradition.
Oakeshott stresses the limits of knowledge and pragmatism.
Exam-Style Questions ✍️
Edexcel assesses Core Political Ideas through a 24-mark extended-response question in Paper 1. The shorter questions below are skill-building revision tasks, while the 24-mark questions reproduce the appropriate level of extended assessment.
Question 1
Which conservative thinker is specifically associated with empiricism in the Edexcel specification? (1 mark)
reveal mark scheme and indicative content
Answer:
Edmund Burke.
Question 2
Define empiricism. (2 marks)
reveal mark scheme and indicative content
Answer / mark scheme:
Award credit for explaining that empiricism is:
the idea that knowledge comes from real experience;
rather than from abstract theories.
Question 3
Explain Hobbes's view of human nature. (4 marks)
reveal mark scheme and indicative content
Answer / mark scheme:
Relevant points include:
humans are needy;
humans are vulnerable;
humans are easily led astray in attempting to understand the world;
these characteristics help explain the importance Hobbes places on an ordered society.
A developed response should connect human nature to order rather than simply listing characteristics.
Question 4
Explain the relationship between Burke's ideas of tradition and empiricism. (6 marks)
reveal mark scheme and indicative content
Answer / mark scheme:
A strong response should explain that:
Burke believes practices passed down through generations should be respected;
empiricism holds that knowledge comes from real experience rather than abstract theory;
traditions contain accumulated experience;
therefore inherited practices possess a form of practical knowledge;
this helps justify Burke's cautious attitude towards replacing existing arrangements.
Question 5
Analyse why Oakeshott's belief in human imperfection supports pragmatism. (8 marks)
reveal mark scheme and indicative content
Answer / mark scheme:
Relevant analysis includes:
Oakeshott sees humans as imperfect;
society is unpredictable;
humans therefore cannot fully know the consequences of political decisions;
rigid political plans may assume a level of knowledge humans do not possess;
pragmatism allows flexible decisions based on circumstances and what works;
human imperfection therefore provides the reasoning behind Oakeshott's pragmatic conservatism.
Question 6
Compare the conservative ideas of Hobbes, Burke and Oakeshott concerning political stability. (8 marks)
reveal mark scheme and indicative content
Answer / mark scheme:
Students may explain that:
Hobbes supports order because humans are needy, vulnerable and easily led astray;
Burke supports stability through respect for inherited practices and cautious organic change;
Oakeshott supports pragmatic responses because society is unpredictable and humans are imperfect;
all three can support cautious conservative approaches to maintaining stable society;
however, their reasoning differs, with Hobbes focusing on human nature, Burke on tradition and experience, and Oakeshott on unpredictability and the limits of human judgement.
Strong responses should compare rather than provide three isolated descriptions.
Question 7
To what extent do conservative thinkers agree that human imperfection makes order necessary? (24 marks)
reveal mark scheme and indicative content
Indicative mark scheme:
AO1: Knowledge and understanding
Relevant material may include:
Hobbes on humans as needy, vulnerable and easily led astray;
Hobbes on balancing an ordered society with the need for freedom;
Oakeshott on imperfect humans and unpredictable society;
conservative psychological, moral and intellectual human imperfection;
Burke's cautious change, tradition and empiricism where relevant;
contrasting ideas from Rand and Nozick where used to establish disagreement.
AO2: Analysis
Arguments supporting agreement might include:
Hobbes directly connects imperfect human nature with the importance of order;
Oakeshott's imperfect humans cannot completely understand an unpredictable society;
both therefore undermine confidence in unrestricted individual judgement;
traditional and one-nation conservatism can use such assumptions to justify order and stability.
Arguments demonstrating disagreement or qualification might include:
Hobbes's specified emphasis is particularly on order and vulnerable human nature;
Oakeshott's response to imperfection is especially pragmatism, rather than simply stronger authority;
Burke's specified contribution focuses more on tradition, empiricism and cautious change;
New Right thinkers studied in Rand and Nozick provide contrasting conservative ideas about individual rationality and liberty.
AO3: Evaluation
Students should assess:
whether common concern with human limitations creates substantial agreement;
whether the different political consequences drawn by the thinkers matter more than their shared caution;
whether Hobbes and Oakeshott represent the same kind of argument about imperfection;
how far other conservative thinkers weaken claims of overall conservative unity.
A strong judgement could argue that Hobbes and Oakeshott both provide important support for a pessimistic conservative understanding of human beings, but their conclusions are not identical. Hobbes particularly reinforces order, whereas Oakeshott's emphasis on unpredictability more directly supports pragmatism.
Question 8
To what extent do Burke and Oakeshott provide the strongest support for conservative pragmatism? (24 marks)
reveal mark scheme and indicative content
Indicative mark scheme:
AO1: Knowledge and understanding
Relevant knowledge includes:
pragmatism as making flexible decisions according to what works;
Oakeshott's belief that conservatism is pragmatic;
Oakeshott on human imperfection and unpredictable society;
Burke on cautious organic change;
Burke on tradition;
Burke on empiricism;
traditional and one-nation conservatism;
relevant contrasting New Right ideas.
AO2: Analysis
Arguments supporting the view may include:
Oakeshott explicitly exemplifies pragmatism in the specification;
his view of society as unpredictable explains why fixed ideological certainty is inappropriate;
Burke's empiricism prioritises real experience over abstract theory;
Burke's cautious organic approach to change is consistent with flexible adaptation;
both therefore provide complementary explanations for traditional and one-nation conservative pragmatism.
Arguments qualifying the view may include:
Burke's specified concepts are more directly centred on tradition, empiricism and cautious change than on pragmatism itself;
Hobbes contributes a different justification for conservative order;
New Right conservatism demonstrates that not all conservatives are equally pragmatic.
AO3: Evaluation
Students should judge:
whether Oakeshott is more directly important than Burke for pragmatism;
whether Burke's empiricism supplies the practical foundation on which pragmatism rests;
whether the existence of more ideological New Right conservatism limits the extent to which their ideas represent conservatism as a whole.
A strong conclusion might argue that Oakeshott provides the clearest direct defence of pragmatism, while Burke supplies a complementary justification through empiricism and cautious organic change. Together they strongly exemplify traditional and one-nation conservative pragmatism, but not every strand of conservatism.
Question 9
To what extent is respect for experience more important than concern about human imperfection in conservative thought? (24 marks)
reveal mark scheme and indicative content
Indicative mark scheme:
AO1: Knowledge and understanding
Students may use:
Burke's tradition and empiricism;
Burke's cautious organic change;
Oakeshott's human imperfection;
Oakeshott's pragmatism;
Hobbes's needy, vulnerable and easily led-astray humans;
psychological, moral and intellectual human imperfection;
traditional, one-nation and New Right divisions where relevant.
AO2: Analysis
Experience as more important:
empiricism provides a reason to trust practices tested over time;
tradition embodies accumulated wisdom;
cautious organic change protects inherited experience;
pragmatism can rely on practical experience rather than abstract theory.
Human imperfection as more important:
Hobbes and Oakeshott question individual judgement;
intellectual imperfection explains why abstract political certainty is unreliable;
psychological and moral imperfection support the need for stable order;
distrust of human judgement helps explain why experience becomes valuable in the first place.
AO3: Evaluation
A particularly strong judgement should recognise that the two ideas are closely connected rather than completely separate.
One defensible conclusion is that human imperfection is the deeper principle, because limited human judgement helps explain why conservatives prefer accumulated experience. However, Burke's empiricism provides the practical method through which that caution is translated into political decision-making.
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