"A nonnegotiable maxim emerges from a fixed Idea, or many fixed Ideas, often parading as 'principles,' but when these are excessively abstract they become ideology, the lethal enemy of thought."
Jeffrey Hart, The Making of the American Conservative Mind, 2005

So the real enemy is universality? The conservative distrust of theory has always struck me as odd. Without general principles, prudence would have nothing to apply.

Ideology refers to "an organized collection of ideas." Not quite sure what exactly is so sinister about that.

Ralph and Ben T: I agree that this quotation is only slightly illuminating about the nature of ideology, but I have two questions for you:

What is the difference between ideology, on the one hand, and philosophy or systematic knowledge-claims or moral principle, on the other?

Do you have a problem with ideology?

Ideology, at bottom, rests on faith. and there you have the enemy of rational thought.

I agree, at long last, with Guido. What's even worse, is that ideology rests on faith in a realm of reason. People get mixed up, and base their faith on reason and their reason on faith.