Butterfield and concept of whig history.My thoughts on whig history are as follows: it is essentially utopian and directly oppositional to conservative (tory) history which is by correlation, arcadian. The inherent assumption of the whig outlook is that individual liberty is best served by an impartial (British style) legal system and free market economy. In this regard the whig ideology is positivist, especially technologically positivist, and legalist. The default ideology of the western citizen is therefore a kind of goulash of whigish utopianism and technological triumphalism (so-called "progress").
As Marx and later Lenin pointed out, free-market capitalism generally requires the reinvention of commodities combined with the exploitation of new markets. Since, by this logic, capitalism is constantly reinventing itself and colonizing said markets, we can see the source of the technological positivism that is apparent in the whig ideology. It is almost impossible to be a consumer within a free-market and
not subscribe to the notion that positivism is correct, considering the endless stream of goods- as von Mises put it- that is being showered on the consumer, not matter how silly and repetitive, or even actaully regressive those commodities might be in terms of pure technological prowess (planned obsolescence, for example).
As has been pointed out elsewhere in this thread, the assumption of the whig ideology is that history culminated in the liberal free market representative parliamentary democracy of Britain in the middle of the 19th century. As such, the utopian ideal has supposedly already been achieved, and thus no further internal legal or political or idealogical change is required. The only thing that changes, therefore, are the commodities produced by the market (based on the material whims of the consumer), and as such, the commodities themselves take on a profound political significance as a supposed manifestation of democratic, technological, progress. Wether this state of affairs emerged by design or simply as a result of the machinations of the system I am not certain.
At any rate, the people living in a whig society, who are susceptible to the whig ethos, will tend to view their society as requiring only a few economic or legalistic tweaks here and there, so long as the promise of an endless stream of (changing but not necessarily improving) commodities is distributed at least somewhat democratically by the market.
The tory ideology is just as stupid, except in reverse. The golden age of the past- when people were moral and civilization flourished- must be returned to through the preservation of the peasant stock (yeomanry), protected paternalistically by their educated aristocratic, superiors. Protecting the commons, therefore, from the intrusion of foreign decadence (the French and Roman Catholic cultures) and materialism (un-protestant hedonism) are the highest priorities. State apparatus that instil this sense of national virtue (namely, the Army) are therefore cherished above all, whereas whig societies tend to favour Navies which are inherently more technological and require more complex systems of international finance to bankroll, systems the tory's perceive as dominated by Jewish interests.
So, in short, both of these ideologies are very stupid and neither really does anything for you in terms of actualizing your human potential. In the whig ideology your greatest achievement is to become a capitalist producer of recursive technology, or a defence lawyer, who then moves into parliament where you can ensure the terrible tories don't ruin the free-market system that made you rich, or run the jewish bankers out of town as they finance the State's navy that keeps the French from taking over the country.
In the tory ideology, your greatest achievement is fight gallantly in religious or cultural crusades against heretics or heathens, while upholding the honour of your aristocratic family lineage, descended as it was from the great kings of the golden past. Your glorious victories on the field of battle and illustrious heritage ensure you a place in the House of Lords where you can keep the perfidy of the decadence apostates and jewish merchants, and their soon to be culturally bankrupted nihilistic and utilitarian whig allies, from usurping your god given power by implementing endless protectionist trade policies under the guise of saving the yoemanry.
Neither ideology does much for me, frankly. I'm surprised so many people believe in any of this rubbish.