# The Conservative Liberalism of Burke, Smith, and Hume

**URL:** <https://www.libertarianism.org/podcasts/free-thoughts/the-conservative-liberalism-of-burke-smith-and-hume>

**By** Daniel B. Klein, Aaron Ross Powell, Trevor Burrus

**Published:** November 20, 2020

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Daniel Klein joins the show to discuss political order in the age of Burke, Hume, and Smith.

## Shownotes:

Daniel Klein explains how on regular issues of policy reform—presupposing a stable integrated polity— Hume, Smith, and Burke were liberal in the original political meaning of “liberal.” Thus, on policy reform, although they accorded the status quo a certain presumption (as any reasonable person must), the more distinctive feature is that they maintained (even propounded, most plainly in Smith’s case) a presumption of liberty in matters of policy reform.

How are Hume, Smith, and Burke similar? How did Burke, Hume, and Smith interact? What is the difference between polity and policy?

## Further Reading:

[Conservative Liberalism: Hume, Smith, and Burke as Policy Liberals and Polity Conservatives](https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3537275), written by Daniel Klein