Conservatism is not so much a philosophy as an attitude

Conservatism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_language: conservare, "to preserve")^[1] is a http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_philosophy and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modernism and seek a return to the way things were.^[2][3] The first established use of the term in a political context was by http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois-Ren%C3%A9_de_Chateaubriand in 1819, following the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution.^[4] The term has since been used to describe a wide range of views.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_science often credits the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ireland politician http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Burke (who served in the British House of Commons and opposed the ) with many of the ideas now called conservative.^[5] According to , a former chairman of the British , "Conservatism is not so much a philosophy as an attitude, a constant force, performing a timeless function in the development of a free society, and corresponding to a deep and permanent requirement of human nature itself."^[6]