Conserving the Conversation

The Philadelphia Society is one of the most legendary institutions conservatives built in the twentieth century. Founded in 1964, its members have included luminaries such as William F. Buckley, Milton Friedman, and Russell Kirk. In many ways, the Philadelphia Society is responsible for charting the future of conservatism as an intellectual movement more than any other institution. 

Now, the American Institute for Economic Research has brought out a second volume of their Conversations on Conservatism series, collecting some of the most important speeches given at past meetings of the Philadelphia Society. Gathering presentations from meetings between the 1980s and early 2000s, this volume covers the critical period of the movement’s “middle age.” More than the preceding volume, which primarily covered the first twenty years of the Philadelphia Society’s existence, this new one brims with controversy.  

Conservatism will never have a rigid definition, but a core set of principles nevertheless emerges from Conversations on Conservatism. On some level, the diverse authors all object to the dominance of the progressive establishment. The authors may disagree about how to achieve certain goods, and even about their philosophic origin, but they are all in some sense defenders of the American Founding and ordered liberty – and the flourishing families and free economy the Founders sought to secure.  

In his introduction, movement historian Lee Edwards explains that the Philadelphia Society was born principally for the sake of discussion and debate. The founders of the organization knew that infighting or factional politics would spell doom for conservatives after Barry Goldwater’s 1964 defeat. Instead, they believed that a “fundamental purpose of the Society should be a continuing dialogue between the ‘traditionalist’ and ‘libertarian’ emphases” within the movement.

Read more at the American Institute of Economic Research.