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Stochastic rationality in Oakeshott’s philosophy

With the MOA conference about to start in just under a week here’s an excellent and unusual piece by Erika Kiss entitled “The rules of the game: Stochastic rationality in Oakeshott’s rule-of-law theory — unusual in that Oakeshott’s A New Guide to the Derby rarely features in an academic paper beyond being mentioned as a curiosity. The rest…

On Human Conduct

It’s been 40 years since one of Oakeshott’s masterpieces, On Human Conduct, was published. Despite being an “old man’s” book, dense and highly qualified, it contains some of the most melliflous writing Oakeshott ever did. Religious faith is the evocation of a sentiment (the love, the glory, or the honour of God, for example, or even…

Ryle and Oakeshott on the “Knowing-How/Knowing-That” Distinction

According to Robert Grant, Oakeshott only ever communicated with two “official” philosophers, one of which was Ryle:  Oakeshott warmly introduced Ryle, who delivered the annual August Comte Memorial Lecture at the LSE. John. D. Mabbott who read the proofs for On Human Conduct had, years earlier, been the first to recognize Oakeshott’s KH/KT connection with Ryle in his…

Constructivism and Relativism in Oakeshott

This chapter highlights a troubling tension within the philosophy of Michael Oakeshott. The relativistic stance that informs his radical constructivism gives license to socio-political conclusions we know Oakeshott could not possibly accept. constructivismLiberal educationLiberalismMichael OakeshottPolitical philosophyScientismsocial epistemologysociology of knowledgesociology of scientific knowledge

Oakeshott’s concept of ideology

A new paper from the very excellent David Corey. Abstract Michael Oakeshott’s critique of ‘political rationalism’ is often regarded as a unique contribution to the study of 20th-century ‘ideologies.’ But, in fact, Oakeshott understood rationalism and ideology as distinct phenomena. This article exposes the essence of each in Oakeshott’s writings, analyses their complex relationship and…