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

Why isn't it better to reason things out from the beginning?

Our knowledge of things like politics and morality is partial and
attained slowly and with difficulty. We can't evaluate political
ideas without accepting far more beliefs, presumptions and attitudes
than we could possibly judge critically. The effects of political
proposals are difficult to predict, and as the proposals become more
ambitious their effects become incalculable. Accordingly, the most
reasonable approach to politics is normally to take the existing
system of society as a given that can't be changed wholesale and try
to ensure that any changes cohere with the principles and practices
that make the existing system work as well as it does.