Prudence, or this-wordly wisdom, reminds humans that perfection is not available in this world.
    Ferenc Hörcher, A Political Philosophy of Conservatism

We are arrived at a particularly fraught moment in the history of Anglospheric conservatism, with post-liberals/Identitarians/Nationalist-Nativists, whatever we choose to call them, trying to overthrow our traditional republicanism in order to install their own ideological vision of governance and casting themselves as conservatives. Mr. Hörcher’s text serves as a strong corrective to this revolution, offering a suitably humble philosophy of conservatism that is almost irrefutably consistent with centuries of our history.

His particular focus is on the virtue of prudence or practical wisdom. From here he offers prudence as a guide to practical politics. Central to this philosophy and guide to governance is the acceptance that our actions occur within a set of traditions and that Man is naturally limited in wisdom and morality. The moderation that he advocates for is then literally conservative in that it seeks to conserve the political, economic, religious arrangements that we have worked out via trial and error, rather than to give ourselves license to attempt radical alterations just because we can imagine in our minds that they might work. As he puts it:

This skepticism about the potential of human intelligence in the realm of the political is crucial for the conservative political philosophy of prudence. Conservatism is a political attitude that tries to redress the problem pointed at by the skeptical: its standard of propriety is partly served by the traditional wisdom of the well-performing human community

Given that we have long argued that what makes Anglospheric philosophy distinct is its skepticism about the claims of Reason, the book can’t help but resonate.

This is an academic text and while it is eminently readable it does do a lot of intellectual spadework. The author discusses the evolution of prudence as developed firstly by Aristotle, Cicero, Augustine and Aquinas before moving on through the Renaissance, Early Modern and Late Modern periods. From there he advances to a consideration of the concept’s role in conservative philosophy and thence to its application in practical politics.

For our purposes here, perhaps two examples of conservative prudence might be illustrative. The first concerns Chesterton’s Fence:

There exists in such a case a certain institution or law; let us say, for the sake of simplicity, a fence or gate erected across a road. The more modern type of reformer goes gaily up to it and says, “I don’t see the use of this; let us clear it away.” To which the more intelligent type of reformer will do well to answer: “If you don’t see the use of it, I certainly won’t let you clear it away. Go away and think. Then, when you can come back and tell me that you do see the use of it, I may allow you to destroy it.”

The other, perhaps apocryphal, we’ll call Eisenhower’s Foot Path:

Eisenhower, when he was president of Columbia University, presided over the creation of new sidewalks. People said, “Where should we put the sidewalks? What’s the best design?” He said, “Do nothing for a year. See where the students walk, naturally. And where they have beaten a path, put a sidewalk.”

What links these two is not just that they deal with infrastructure, but that they suggest we ought to be humble about our own intellects and prepared to temper our ideas/intuitions with the evidence of actual human behaviors. This sort of moderation is all too rare these days generally and simply unheard of on the Right (or the Left, but I repeat myself). This invaluable book summons us back to the skeptical roots of conservatism, reminding us of the values we are fighting to conserve.

(Reviewed:08-Aug-25)

Grade: (A-) Orrin C. Judd

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Ferenc Horcher Links:

    -FACULTY PAGE: Ferenc Hörcher (Ludovika University of Public Service)
    -CV: Ferenc Hörcher (Academia.edu)
    -TWITTER:@HorcherF
    -BOOK SITE: A Political Philosophy of Conservatism: Prudence, Moderation and Tradition by Ferenc Hörcher (Bloomsbury)
    -ENTRY: Dr. Ferenc Hörcher (Sci Profiles)
    -ENTRY: Ferenc Hörcher (Goiogle Scholar)
    -ENTRY: Ferenc Hörcher (Common Sense Society)
    -ENTRY: Ferenc Hörcher (Mathias Corvinus Collegium Foundation)
    -ENTRY: Books by Ferenc Horcher (Good Reads)
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    -INDEX: ferenc horcher (Hungarian Historical Review)
    -INDEX: Ferenc Hörcher (European Conservative)
    -INDEX: Ferenc Hörcher (researchGate)
    -INDEX: Ferenc Hörcher (Hungarian Review)
    -INDEX: Ferenc Hörcher (Hungarian Conservative)
    -INDEX: Ferenc Hörcher (PhilPapers)
    -INDEX: Ferenc Hörcher (deliberatio)
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    -ESSAY: Scruton on Modernity, Tradition and the Paradox of T.S. Eliot (Ferenc Hörcher, 2024-01-27, Deliberatio)
    -PODCAST: Art and Politics in Roger Scruton’s Conservative Philosophy: In this episode, Ojel L. Rodriguez Burgos interviews the historian of political thought Professor Ferenc Hörcher about his new book Art and Politics in Roger Scruton’s Conservative Philosophy (Institute of Intellectual History, May 2024)
    -ESSAY: “Beyond the Window That Can Never Be Opened”—Roger Scruton on “Moments of Revelation” in Human Life (Ferenc Hörcher, 4/15/24, Research Institute of Politics and Government)
    -ESSAY: The Political Philosophy of Conservatism (Ferenc Hörcher, Art and Politics in Roger Scruton's Conservative Philosophy)
    -ESSAY: Is a Contemporary Conservative Political Philosophy Based on the Aristotelian Concept of Phronesis Possible? (Ferenc Hörcher, Hungarian Philosophical Review)

Let me have this starting point: as we saw, both Aristotle and Burke had a basic distrust in the reasonability of organising human and, more particularly, political affairs on theoretical principles. Both held this view with good reason, presumably having drawn the conclusions from first hand experience of the political matters of their political community. Therefore their mistrust of (political) theory was not a simple theoretical construct, but was the summary of experiences collected in their own life as well as by other authors whom they might have consulted. They were experienced men, with the necessary amount of scepticism about political construction.

If we want to characterise the position of authors like Aristotle and Burke, the concept of phronesis seems to be useful as a point of departure. We can rely on it to be particularly suitable when dealing with political matters. Phronesis , or practical wisdom is opposed to other manifestations of rationality in Aristotle. It is to be distinguished from the primary vehicle of thinking about politics in the modern Western philosophical tradition: instrumental, or even moral reason. Perhaps the main target of Aristotle’s criticism is Platonic political constructionism, while for Burke indirectly the Kantian tradition.

In 20 th century terms, Conservatism is opposed to the form of neo-Kantianism as it was reinvigorated by John Rawls in his Theory of Justice . Kant tried to reinforce the efficacy of reason in practical matters, reacting to Hume’s devastating criticism of rationality claiming that it is, and ought only to be “the slave of the passions”

    -ESSAY: The Betrayal of Central Europe: If both elites (those of the West and of Central Europe, respectively) are ready to follow a more pragmatic political action plan, and rely on a less exclusive and lecturing linguistic regime, we can avoid the worst case scenario, which is the split and break-up of the Union, and a potential internal conflict within Europe. (Ferenc Hörcher, 17.05.2022, Hungarian Conservative)
    -ESSAY: FAREWELL TO ROGER SCRUTON – THE CLASSIC OF CONTEMPORARY BRITISH CONSERVATISM (Ferenc Hörcher, January 16, 2020, Hungarian Review)
    -ESSAY: POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY IN A TIME OF PANDEMIC – PART I–II (Ferenc Hörcher, July 13, 2020, Hungarian Review)
    -ESSAY: HISTORY AND GRACE (Ferenc Hörcher,, September 29, 2022, Hungarian Review)
    -ESSAY: Is a Contemporary Conservative Political Philosophy Based on the Aristotelian Concept of Phronesis Possible? (Ferenc Hörcher, December 2013, The Politics of Aristotle)
    -ESSAY: A brief enchantment. Oakeshott's conception of Poetry and Conversation in human life (Ferenc Hörcher, January 2012)
    -ESSAY: “Beyond the Window That Can Never Be Opened”—Roger Scruton on “Moments of Revelation” in Human Life (Ferenc Hörcher, Religions)
    -LECTURE: The Theoretical basis of the concept of „the Political”. Raymond Aron’s Contribution (Ferenc Hörcher, June 2023)
    -ESSAY: Art and Politics in Roger Scruton's Conservative Philosophy (Ferenc Hörcher, January 2023)
    -CHAPTER: The Political Philosophy of Conservatism (Vita Activa) (Ferenc Hörcher, December 2022, Art and Politics in Roger Scruton's Conservative Philosophy)
    -CHAPTER: The Art of the Scholar: Oakeshott’s Conservative Account of Liberal Learning (Ferenc Hörcher, January 2022, Oakeshott’s Skepticism, Politics, and Aesthetics)
    -CHAPTER: Burke on Rationalism, Prudence and Reason of State (Ferenc Hörcher, May 2020, Critics of Enlightenment Rationalism)
    -ESSAY: A Letter from Central Europe: To My Conservative Friends in the West and the East: We conservatives of different persuasions, from the West, the East, and Central Europe, have a common responsibility: to do our best to conserve our political culture, as polished by the ideas of conservatism. (Ferenc Hörcher, March 29, 2022, European Conservative)
    -REVIEW: Tradition and The Democratic Decision-Making Process: In Tradition and the Deliberative Turn, Ryan R. Holston warns that democracy cannot function well without tradition. (Ferenc Hörcher, August 10, 2024, European Conservative)
    -ESSAY: Enlightened Reform or National Reform?: The Continuity Debate about the Hungarian Reform Era and the Example of the Two Széchenyis (1790–1848)1 (Ferenc Hörcher, Hungarian Historical Review)
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    -INTERVIEW: THE GLAMOUR OF TRUE THOUGHTS: with Roger Scruton (Ferenc Hörcher, 9/16/12, Hungarian Review)
    -PODCAST: #36 Ferenc Hörcher (Hungary) on Intellectual Conservatism from Burke to Scruton (Concepts with Shawn Whatley, Jun 10, 2025)
    -INTERVIEW: ‘We should build on our Christian tradition to preserve European values’ – An Interview with Professor Ferenc Hörcher (Loretta Toth, 29.06.2024, Hungarian Conservative)
    -PODCAST: Ferenc Horcher - Drinking and Fox Hunting with Sir Roger Scruton (The Optimistic Curmudgeon, Apr 8, 2024)
    -PODCAST: #36 Ferenc Hörcher (Hungary) on Intellectual Conservatism from Burke to Scruton (Shawn Whatley Concepts, Jun 10, 2025)
    -PODCAST: Ferenc Hörcher On Roger Scruton: Ferenc Hörcher comes to us from Budapest where he is a professor of political science and philosophy. He is the author most recently of Art and Politics in Roger Scruton’s Conservative Philosophy (Alan Cornett, May 25, 2023, Cultural Debris)
    -VIDEO: Book launch: A Political Philosophy of Conservatism by author Professor Ferenc Hörcher (Danube Institute, Apr 27, 2020)
    -VIDEO: Prof. Ferenc Hörcher - "Political Prudence & Natural Law" (Solek Natural Law, March 2021)
    -VIDEO: Rediscovering Prudence : Ferenc Hörcher (ECR Party, May 20, 2021, The Conservative Talks)
    -VIDEO: Ferenc Hörcher: Prudence, Moderation and Tradition: A Political Philosophy of Conservatism (HUN-REN, Jun 2, 2020)
    -INTERVIEW: The Need for Beauty and the Scrutonian Legacy: An Interview with Ferenc Hörcher: The most important thing for Scruton was to show that beauty can lead us from worldly concerns to the most important themes of our lives. (A.M. Fantini, June 25, 2023, European Conservative)
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    -INTERVIEW: Interview with Ferenc Hörcher (Ugo Stefano Stornaiolo Silva, 11/04/24, Miskatonian)

I published a volume with the title “The Political Philosophy of Conservatism” and the subtitle “Prudence, Moderation and Tradition“, and I found these three concepts important for me for the same reason our liberal friends tend to start out from the cardinal virtue of justice.

Think about John Rawls, for example, perhaps the most influential 20th century liberal thinker, and his most important book is called A Theory of Justice. And in fact, yes, it tries to work out the conditions for a just society.

But I thought that justice might be important, but there might be something before one can turn towards achieving justice in your society. You need to keep order and peace in your society. You have to find the minimum conditions of cooperation and cohabitation. And for that, justice is too far away. What you need is rather, as I mentioned, to keep down the passions and the uncontrollable motivations for violence and brutality and envy and all those things.

And to achieve that, we know from the Christian teaching that the cardinal virtue of prudence or practical wisdom is crucial because it does not give us a key of the metaphysical truth of our conditions or the human phenomenon, but it provides not simply a technique or a skill, but rather a virtue, a habitus, a kind of ingrained and internalized excellence, which is a virtue of a practical nature, which will help us to make decisions in difficult situations. I usually describe this with the following metaphor or allegory:

Imagine that you enter a Saloon somewhere in the American Wild West in the early 19th century as a cowboy. And you are thirsty, you want to have a drink. But this is a pub which you never entered before. And you have to be aware that there are certain risks when you enter a Saloon or a Pub. You have to be careful about who is in, what are the intentions of those in, and what are the possible risks for you to enter.

And that is, I think, the attitude of the one who has got practical wisdom. It’s an attitude of cautious foresight, of an effort to try to be able to get all the necessary information to make good decisions, what to do next. That’s the most important thing: it’s not necessarily to have long-term strategies, but more of a tactical thing. But you always have to keep in mind the telos, the goal of the whole thing, and it’s not simply survival, but the common good of the community, in fact.

You are not only, as the cowboy who enters the Saloon, interested to save your own life, but you want to have a good time for all of those in there. And that’s the sort of thing, what you need, a practical judgment, the ability to see potential dangers, and also the space for maneuver, and the ability to do good, or at least to avoid to do bad things.

    -ESSAY: A Plan for Prudence (Bruno Manno, 6/05/25, Fusion)
    -ESSAY: Postface. Has Conservatism a Future? (Noel O’Sullivan, 2023, Revue Française de Civilisation Britannique: One Nation Conservatism from Disraeli to Johnson)
    -ESSAY: Rise of the Young Scrutonians: He left a legacy of thought and ideas captured in crystalline prose, eloquent speeches and daring deeds to spread his certain idea of conservatism across the civilised world. (Henry George, 22nd April 2024, Salisbury Review)
    -ESSAY: Gradual Change is F***ing Awesome—And Liberalism Knows It: On Darwin, abuse, and Costanza politics. (Wayne Karol, Jul 30, 2025, Persuasion)
    -ESSAY: A Plan for Prudence (Bruno Manno, 6/05/25, Fusion)
    -ESSAY: Postface. Has Conservatism a Future? (Noel O’Sullivan, 2023, Revue Française de Civilisation Britannique: One Nation Conservatism from Disraeli to Johnson)
    -ESSAY: Rise of the Young Scrutonians: He left a legacy of thought and ideas captured in crystalline prose, eloquent speeches and daring deeds to spread his certain idea of conservatism across the civilised world. (Henry George, 22nd April 2024, Salisbury Review)
    -ESSAY: Gradual Change is F***ing Awesome—And Liberalism Knows It: On Darwin, abuse, and Costanza politics. (Wayne Karol, Jul 30, 2025, Persuasion)
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    -REVIEW: of A Political Philosophy of Conservatism: Prudence, Moderation and Tradition (H. G. Callaway, Law and Politics Book Review
    -REVIEW: of A Political Philosophy of Conservatism: Prudence, Moderation and Tradition (Michal Stachurski, Seminare)
    -REVIEW: of The Political Philosophy of the European City by Ferenc Hörcher (Nathan Pinkoski, Law & Liberty)

Book-related and General Links:

    -ESSAY: A Philosophy of Prudence and the Purpose of Higher Education Today (Part I) (Lee Trepanier, Mar 22, 2025, Then Again)
    -PODCAST: Pluralist Points: Virtue and the Pursuit of Happiness: Jeffrey Rosen talks with Ben Klutsey about how classical notions of virtue and self-mastery influenced the American founding (Jeffrey Rosen, Mar 28, 2025, Pluralist Points)

KLUTSEY: I think you touched on the definition a little bit. Different thinkers from Cicero to the Founders have connected virtue to happiness, but in different ways. How should we think about this relationship? Is happiness simply the result of virtue or something deeper?

ROSEN: Great question. For the Founders, happiness meant not feeling good but being good, not the pursuit of immediate pleasure but the pursuit of long-term virtue. By virtue, they mean the quest for character improvement, self-improvement, self-mastery. That’s why the word “pursuit” is so important. It’s not in the obtaining but in the pursuit of being a more perfect person that we achieve happiness. It’s never a final destination. That is why thinking about happiness as a pursuit for lifelong learning is another good way of summing up the classical definition.

    -ESSAY: A Philosophy of Prudence and the Purpose of Higher Education Today (Part II) (Lee Trepanier, Mar 29, 2025, Then Again)
    -ESSAY: A Philosophy of Prudence and the Purpose of Higher Education Today (Part III) (Lee Trepanier, Apr 05, 2025, Then Again)
    -ESSAY: A Philosophy of Prudence and the Purpose of Higher Education Today (Part IV) (Lee Trepanier, 4/12/25, Then Again)
    -ESSAY: A Philosophy of Prudence and the Purpose of Higher Education Today (Part V) (Lee Trepanier, Apr 19, 2025, Then Again)
    -ESSASY: Conservatism and the Culture: True conservatism requires courage. (Robert H. Bork, Arguing Conservatism: Four Decades of the Intercollegiate Review)
    -ESSAY: TRUST, PRUDENCE AND HISTORY: JOHN DUNN AND THE TASKS OF POLITICAL THEORY (N.J. Rengger, History of Political Thought)
    -WIKIPEDIA: John Dunn
    -VIDEO: Talking to Thinkers with John Dunn (Johnny Lyons, Jul 7, 2020)
    -REVIEW: on Anthony Quinton's 'Politics of Imperfection': a review of Anthony Quinton, The Politics of Imperfection: The Religious and Secular Traditions of Conservative Thought in England from Hooker to Oakeshott (David J. Levy, May - June 1981, PN Review 19)
    -ESSAY: Prudence and the Future of Conservatism (Aurelian Craiutu, 2/22/21, The Constitutionalist)
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