Description


This article is from the Conservatism FAQ, by Jim Kalb kalb@aya.yale.edu with numerous contributions by others.

There are conflicting traditions even within a single society. Which gets treated as "ours?"

The question is less serious than it appears, since it cannot be
discussed without assuming a community of discourse and therefore an authoritative tradition.

Any collectivity that deliberates and acts has a tradition--a set of
commonly-held habits, attitudes, beliefs and memories that is
reasonably coherent over time--that enables it to do so. A society
consists of those who at least in general accept the authority of a
common tradition. "Our" tradition is therefore the tradition that
guides and motivates the collective action of the society to which we
belong and give our loyalty, and within which the relevant discussion
is going forward.

It is worth noting that no society is perfectly unified; each has
elites and subordinate societies with their own traditions and
spheres of action. A society may also harbor resident aliens and
dissident or criminal groups. Which groups are treated as subordinate
societies legitimately belonging to the larger one and which are
treated as resident aliens, criminals or foreign oppressors is itself
determined by the traditions that define the society as a whole and
make it what it is.